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Many English verbs can be used either intransitively or transitively. For instance, in thesentence Most birds can fly, the verb to fly is intransitive, since it is used without anobject. But in the sentence This pilot will fly the plane, the verb to fly is transitive,si nce it takes the object plane.However, some English verbs can be used only intransitively. A few pairs of verbs shouldbe noted . The two verbs of each pair have similar meanings, but one of the verbs cantake an object, and the other cannot. In the following table, the verbs labeledintransitive are those which cannot take an object.Infinitive Siml!le Past Past Particil!leTransitive: to lay laid laidIntransitive: to lie lay lainTransitive: to raise raised raisedIntransitive: to rise rose risenTransitive: to set set setIntransitive: to sit sat satParticular care must be taken not to confuse the verbs to lay and to lie, since, as shownabove, the Simple Past of the verb to lie has the same form as the bare infinitive of theverb to lay.a. To Lay and To LieTo lay is a transitive verb, which can take an object. The following examples illustratethe use of the Present Continuous, Simple Past, and Present Perfect tenses of the verbto lay. The verbs are underlined, and the objects of the verbs are printed in bold type.e.g. I am layi ng the table.He laid a bet on the white horse.The hen has laid an egg.To lie is an intransitive verb, which cannot take an object. The following examplesillustrate the use of the Present Continuous, Simple Past, and Present Perfect tenses ofthe verb to lie.e.g. She is lyi ng on the sofa.We 1!v on the beach in the sun.He has lain in bed for a week.In these examples, it might appear that the words sofa, beach, and bed act as objectsof the verb to lie. However, this is not the case.Not only verbs, but also prepositions have the ability to take objects. A few commonlyused English prepositions are at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to and with. Prepositionswill be discussed in detail in a later chapter.In the examples above, sofa, and beach are objects of the preposition on; and bed isthe object of the preposition in.