1. lay, laying, laid 2. lie, lying, lay - City Lit Moodle

G24 IYS lay, laying laid, lie, lying, lay.doc WW/E2.2 & WS/L1.2 & RW/L1.3
1. lay, laying, laid
Lay, laying laid . You use these word when you are talking about putting
something down. e.g. lay eggs (new laid eggs), lay the table, lay lino or carpets,
lay garments down.
INFINITIVE (verb “to” in front)
It’s easy to lay floor tiles.
PRESENT TENSE
I often lay the table and make the beds.
I am laying my shirt over here.
PAST TENSE
The hen laid some eggs yesterday.
The hen was laying an egg when I went into the barn yesterday.
2. lie, lying, lay
Lie, lying, lay. These are never followed by a direct object. You often use them when
talking about getting yourself horizontal, to rest or sleep.
They are always immediately followed by a preposition like:
down, on, in, by, under, next to
INFINITIVE
Jo likes to lie on the floor to read her book.
PRESENT TENSE
I lie down when I’m tired.
I am lying down to rest.
PAST TENSE
The baby lay in his cradle all day long.
He was lying under his yellow blanket.
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G24 IYS lay, laying laid, lie, lying, lay.doc WW/E2.2 & WS/L1.2 & RW/L1.3
3. lie, lying, lied
are the words to use when you are talking about not telling the truth.
INFINITIVE
It’s better not to lie to people.
PRESENT TENSE
I never lie to you.
He is lying about the theft.
PAST TENSE
John lied to me last week.
They were both lying to me.
Exercise
Copy out these sentences, putting the correct word in the
spaces.
1. I feel so tired, I really must ……….. down and sleep.
2. Last week I spent several hours ………….ing lino in the kitchen
3. Don’t put those things down here, ……….. them over there.
4. I don’t like being disturbed when I’m ……………ing down to rest.
5. Ann will help when you need to start …………..ing the plates on the
table.
6. If Dad goes to ………down for a minute , he always falls asleep.
7. The book you need is ………….ing on the desk.
8. You didn’t tell her the truth, and now you’re …………ing to me, too.
9. After the crash, the motor cyclist was …………… ing in the road.
10. Yesterday evening I felt so tired that I went and ……….. down.
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G24 IYS lay, laying laid, lie, lying, lay.doc WW/E2.2 & WS/L1.2 & RW/L1.3
1. lay, laying, laid
2. lie, lying, lay
3. lie, lying lied
Exercise in proof-reading
In the following story, some sentences contain mistakes in
the use of the words described on the previous pages of this
worksheet. Find these sentences, and write them out
correctly.
That Saturday afternoon the weather was sunny and I was out in the garden, laying
the new path. I was laying paving stones, and trying to keep them in a straight line.
The previous week I had laid the turf to make a lawn. Carol was laying in a deck
chair, undecided as to whether to read or try to finish the jumper she was knitting.
She had come home very tired from doing the shopping. Her knitting was laying on
the grass beside her chair.
Suddenly there was a loud crash. I looked up and saw there had been an accident in
the road outside. There was a pedestrian laying in the roadway. He seemed to have
been hit by a car, which had hit a lamp-post afterwards. Steam was escaping from the
car radiator, a tyre had burst, and lots of glass laid in the road. I ran over to help the
pedestrian, and lay my sweater under his head. Carol phoned the ambulance while I
stayed with him and tried to stop the bleeding. The driver came up and said that he
had had no chance to avoid the man, but he lied to me when I asked if he had been
drinking. I could smell alcohol on his breath.
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