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Monday, March 15, 2010

Poll Results 78

This was the question:

Is this sentence correct? "I remember when we lay in the grass."


Yes
39 (36%)
No
69 (63%)

Congrats to 36% of you. This sentence is in the past tense. To see what's what, let's put it in present tense:

"I lie in the grass."

What's the past tense of the verb "to lie"?

Yesterday, I lay in the grass.

What's the past participle of "to lie"?

I have lain in the grass for two minutes.

What's the progressive form of "to lie"?

I have been lying in the grass since yesterday.

Now let's confuse ourselves by looking at the verb "to lay," which you use with an object, such as "I want to lay the blanket on the bed."

Present tense: He lays the blanket on the bed.
Past tense: He laid the blanket on the bed.
Past participle: He has laid the blanket on the bed.
Progressive form: He is laying the blanket on the bed.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm still confused. Would you say "I remember when we laid in the grass" instead?

The Sentence Sleuth said...

Nope. The past tense of "to lie" is "lay," so it's "We lay in the grass yesterday." If you put something in the grass yesterday, you would say, "I laid the blanket onto the grass."

InsolublePancake said...

It looks like two thirds of the readers of this blog need to read it a bit more thoroughly.

The Sentence Sleuth said...

Yes. I expect you all to memorize everything I say! :)

Anonymous said...

Grammatically correct, but the meaning is awful....

"I remember when we lay in the grass"

As opposed to "I forget when we don't lay in the grass"???

Shouldn't we say "I remember laying in the grass with you" instead?

The Sentence Sleuth said...

Sorry, no. I remember lying in the grass with you.
As I recall, the character was having a flashback, and it made sense in the context.