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Jan, my memory isn't serving me well.

1) We laid there until daylight.

2) We lay there until daylight.

I think it's (2), but I forgot why.


Lillian

You're correct; it's #2.

In the present tense, 'lay' means to put something down and 'lie' means to put yourself into a reclining position.

It gets trickier in the past tense (as your sentence are); the simple past tense of 'lay' is 'laid,' but the simple past tense of 'lie' is 'lay.'

Thanks, Jan. Now that I have the reason why, I don't think I'll forget it.


Lillian

I have a little Grammar Girl guide printed out on my noticeboard for lie/lay/laid emergencies. I tried to find it then, but it's really tiny now (maybe my Mac's resolution). So I found another one that may help:

That's great, Deb, but the concept of reclining vs. laying something down on a table best helps me to distinguish between Lie, Lay and Lay, Laid.

Thanks,

Lillian