Troublesome Verbs Definition

Suppose that yesterday you took a long, wonderful nap. Did you lie down, or did you lay down?
Or suppose that you just got a care package from home. If you put the package on a shelf in your room, is it sitting on the shelf, or is it setting on the shelf?

These two verb pairs–lie / lay and sit / set –are some of the most frequently misused verbs in the English language.

Note: the verb lie in this tutorial is the one meaning to recline. The verb lie as in to say something untrue follows a different set of rules. However, that verb rarely causes confusion.

The first step toward using these verbs correctly is learning the difference between two types of verbs. You already know about being verbs (am, is, etc.) and action verbs. Now you need to know that action verbs come in two varieties--intransitive and transitive.

The prefix trans- literally means across. (Think about the words transport [to carry across] and transcontinental [across the continent] as examples.) The prefix in means not. When you combine the two prefixes–intrans–they literally mean not across.

In grammar terminology, the prefixes work like this:

• An intransitive verb describes action, but the action is not carried across to a noun-direct object. In other words, there is no receiver of the action.

  Example: The jeep flew down the road.
  In this sentence, the subject (jeep) does the verb (flew), but there is no noun to receive the action of the verb. In other words, the verb's action is not transferred across to a direct object receiver.

  More Examples:

  • The dog ran off with his tail between his legs.
  • The football landed yards away from its intended receiver.
  • Heavy snowfall continued throughout the night.

• By contrast, a transitive verb carries the verb's action across to a noun (direct object) that receives the action.

  Example: The unyielding barrier crunched the truck into accordian panels.
  The subject (barrier) does the verb (crunched) to the direct object--the receiver of verb's action (truck).

  More Examples:

  • Adrian played the trombone in the school band.
         The direct object (trombone) receives the action of the verb (played).
  • The center slammed the ball through the hoop.
         The direct object (ball) receives the action of the verb (slammed).
  • Samantha told her mother about the dreadful date.
         The direct object (mother) receives the action of the verb (told).

  In general, if you take the verb all by itself and ask "who" or "what"–played what?–slammed what?–told who?–you'll find the direct object. A transitive verb MUST have a noun functioning as a direct object to receive the action of the verb.

Once you understand the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs, you'll have no trouble choosing between lie and lay or between sit and set.

Intransitive	Transitive
lie	lay
sit	set

Here's a trick to help you remember which verbs are which:

• The Intransitive verbs contain the vowel i (lie / sit).
• The transitive verbs don't contain an i (lay / set).

  Remember that the transitive verbs–lay and set must have a direct object that receives the action of the verb (lay what? set what?).