Use of Lie and Lay

Seals lie in the sun while sunbathers lay their towels on the sand.

Writers become frustrated deciding when to use lie and lay. An easy way to distinguish between them: lie means "to recline"; lay means "to place." As in, "I lay the blanket on the floor, then I lie on it." You may recall the saying: People lie, hens lay.

Trouble begins in past tense. Past tense of lie is lay: I lay on the bed. The past tense of lay is laid: She laid her basket on the ground.

In the English language, we have regular and irregular verbs. With the regular word, play, principal parts include the simple present (play), the simple past (played), and the past participle (played). I play now. I played yesterday. I have played in the past. Both lie and lay are irregular.

Lie: I lie on the beach today. I lay on the beach yesterday. I have lain on that beach with my dog.

Lay: I lay my hands on the keyboard today. I laid my hands on the keyboard yesterday. I have laid my hands on the keyboard many times to write stories.

The English language also contrains transitive and intransitive verbs. A transitive verb transfers the mean from the verb to a direct object. Verbs such as hit and beat almost always take an object. An intransitive verbs takes no object. Lie is intransitive. You have to lay something. You must lay the plate on the table, or the blanket in the closet or the shovel on the sand. Lie takes no object. If the verb takes an object, use some form of the verb to lay. Get it?

Lie means to recline and is intransitive. Lay means to place and takes an object. (Just remember that the past tense of lie happens to be lay.)Prepositions influence Lay: lay about, lay away, lay low, lay aside, lay into, lay off. Idioms include: lay it on thick and lay of the land.

I wouldn't lie about the use of lie and lay.