015 : Lie versus Lay

How can you tell?

Well here's when you gotta bring out the big ol' Grammar Book back to refer to, because there IS a difference,  not just in spelling but also pronunciation. It's also important to note the overlaps of these words in certain tenses, which makes it even more confusing.

First, it's important to know that lay is a Transitive Verb (TransV) while lie is an Intransitive Verb (IntransV). This means that lay requires a Direct Object (DO = something the action is done to) while lie (except for the meaning of 'telling untruths', for which a DO is optional) does not.

Verb          Infinitive       Past Tense      Past Participle
lie               lie                  lay                   lain
lay             lay                  laid                  laid 


Here are some altered examples of sentences using these, from Grammar Girl.

Blue = Lie, Pink = Lay, Yellow = Direct Object.

The present tense of lie and lay are rather easy to distinguish:
You lay down the sheets of paper.
You lie on the floor.

The past tense of lie is lay, so
Last week, Steve lay down on the floor.
The cat lay in the mud after it rained yesterday.

The past tense of lay is laid, so
Last week, I laid the TPS report on your desk.
Mary forcefully laid her ring on the table.

The past participle of lie is lain, so
Steve has lain on the floor for days.
The cat has lain in the mud for hours.

The past participle of lay is laid, so
I have laid the TPS report on your desk.
Mary has forcefully laid her ring on the table.

 This is just a simple account of the issue. For more information, please refer to these sites (aka my sources):

Lay or Lie?

Lie and Lay

Grammar Girl : Lay Versus Lie

Learn the Difference between "Lay" or "Lie"

Cheers and have fun with grammar. ;P

008 : parts of speech, simplified

Need to refresh your mind on what nouns, verbs, adverbs, pronouns, etc are? Or just wanting to find worksheets useful to focus on lessons on these topics? This Enchantedlearning sub-site offers some nice material catering this, and they're also handy because they are explained in a simple way so that if your students are having problems with parts of speech, they can do it in their own time.

[ link : @enchantedlearning.com ]

007 : more resources for teaching!

Edhelper has puzzlemakers, worksheets, and other convenient stuff for your teaching needs. For the topical worksheets, they are graded according to the level of learners, so it makes it easier for you to suit/adapt the lessons to the needs and abilities of your students.

The site is catered for younger learners and offers stuff for English, Maths and a few other subjects. Their language resources in particular can also be good for ESL learners, regardless of their age.

Note : not all of their resources are free (like most teaching resources), but the ones that are available are worth checking out.

[ link : edhelper.com ]

006 : adjectives - think you know?

Until a few years ago, I never knew that multiple adjectives (English, at least) had a certain order when combined. This realisation came to me when I was tested for a job interview. I'm not sure how well I did on that test, but I did get the job, and I did learn that there was a proper order for adjectives, so all was good I guess. Haha.

Anyway, for the language teaching course I'm currently studying, we have to do a microteaching session as one of our course requirements. I think adjectives would be a good thing to focus on for this because it's easily underestimated but very much exploitable.

Here's a few links I found particularly useful to know about adjectives and their word orders:

[ link : @enchantedlearning.com ]
[ link : @learn4good.com ]
[ link : @grammar-quizzes.com ]

If you want to try more questions to check your understanding, go here:

[ link : @web2.uvcs.uvic.ca ]
[ link : @johnsesl.com ]
[ link : @edhelper.com ]