Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[whatdaheck]

HI!
I've always been confused abt this...
Could u plz help me out?
Which one's correct?
The two kittens were laying on each other? Or their bodies were lying on each other or they were lying on each other?
Waiting,
Maham

[CP]

The two kittens were lying on each other.

Lie is intransitive (no direct object). The principal parts (present, past, past participle) are lie, lay, lain.

I lie on the couch every day. Yesterday, I lay on the couch for an hour. I have often lain there for hours on end.

Lay, by contrast, is a transitive verb (takes a direct object). The principal parts are lay, laid, laid.

I lay my pencil on the desk whenever I am not using it. I laid it there yesterday, but now it's gone. I have laid my pencil on my desk every time I've sat down to study.

The other lie, meaning to say something that is not true, is lie, lied, lied.

I lie about my past all the time. I lied about my childhood when I said I was born in the Taj Mahal. I have lied so many times, I can't remember the truth any more.
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