Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

Distinguish among the forms of lie and lay
Choose appropriate verb forms, tenses, and moods
Grammar

Writers and speakers frequently confuse the various forms of lie (meaning “to recline or rest on a surface”) and lay (meaning “to put or place something”). Lie is an intransitive verb; it does not take a direct object: The forms lie on the table. The verb lay is transitive; it takes a direct object: Please lay the forms on the table. (See 48b.)

EXERCISE 27-1

Edit the following sentences to eliminate problems with irregular verbs. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” after it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

a. When I get the urge to exercise, I lay down until it passes.

b. Grandmother had drove our new hybrid to the sunrise church service, so we were left with the station wagon.

c. A pile of dirty rags was laying at the bottom of the stairs.

d. How did the game know that the player had went from the room with the blue ogre to the hall where the gold was heaped?

e. Abraham Lincoln took good care of his legal clients; the contracts he drew for the Illinois Central Railroad could never be broke.