EN - English Grammar for the Utterly Confused.pdf

34ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR THE UTTERLY CONFUSEDOf all the verbs in English, lie and lay are likely the most often confused. Lay is a regularverb; lie is an irregular verb.●●Lie means “to repose.” Lie conjugates as lie, lay, lain.Lay means “to put.” Lay conjugates as lay, laid, laid.Because lay is both the present tense of to lay and the past tense of to lie, many speakersand writers use lay when they mean lie.●●Lie is an intransitive verb. That means that it never takes a direct object.When people are exhausted, they should lie down for a rest.Lay is a transitive verb. That means that lay always takes a direct object.Lay the papers down.The following chart lists some of the most common irregular verbs that have the samepresent participle, past, and past participle forms.Present Tense Present Participle Past Past Participlebid bidding bid have bidburst bursting burst have burstcost costing cost have costhit hitting hit have hithurt hurting hurt have hurtkneel knelt knelt have kneltlet letting let have letput putting put have putset setting set have setThe next chart lists some of the most common irregular verbs that have the same past andpast participle forms.Present Tense Present Participle Past Past Participlebeat beat beaten have beatenbecome became become have becomebend bent bent have bentbind binding bound have boundbite bit bitten have bitten