DU English language experts

[malaise]

Is it Here lay X (a corpse in repose) or Here laid X (a corpse inn repose)?

[True Dough]

1. I'd be inclined to use "Here lies X"

But I don't have a masters or PhD

[malaise]

4. OK - for context

Someone is writing about a moment long gone and thought I'd know if it's lay or laid

[CurtEastPoint]

7. present tense, here lies. Past tens, here lay.

check it out

https://www.infoplease.com/homework-help/writing-grammar/lay-vs-lie-verb-chart

[malaise]

9. Lay is my choice as well

but my friend used laid and I wanted to double check. I truly didn't know if it differed for a corpse.

[CurtEastPoint]

10. lay is a transitive verb, an action verb. lie is a state of being, intransitive.

Lay a body means to position it. A body doesn't lay. .It lies. Past tens, it lay.

[wnylib]

31. Laid would be used with a verb, e.g.

"The body was laid on a slab in the morgue."

Don't recall what grammatical structure "was laid" is called.

But for simple past tense, lay is correct, not laid.

[TreasonousBastard]

12. Still not enough-- are we talking of the corpse, or of whoever left it there?

The corpse is lying there, but someone laid it there.

And what is the time frame? Is someone coming up on the corpse and saying "Aha! a corpse. Someone must have laid it here." Or saying "I see a corpse lying here."

There are a bazillion other possible options, including "He laid down and died. So now he's a corpse lying there."

Fortunately, we have only future, present, and past tenses, with their participles and a few minor quirks. We're lucky we don't have the pluperfect subjunctive to deal with..

[Foolacious]

17. Nit & pick: "He LAY down and died." N/T

[True Dough]

18. Now, you sound like

someone who really knows what he's talking about!

[drray23]

2. here is your answer..

https://images.app.goo.gl/BJBCqdPcBdvJL2Rn7

[Fla Dem]

6. Bravo!!!!!

[soothsayer]

3. Not just lies?

[Scrivener7]

8. I think you have to say "was laid." The corpse did not perform any action, it is an object because

it's dead and inanimate. So someone had to lay it down. (If it was a living person who could act, they would lie down.)

And since the past tense of lay is laid, I would say that someone laid the body down, or the body was laid in the ground, or "here was laid the body"

[malaise]

11. See that's precisely why I asked - my first thought is lay but at the back of my mind

is precisely what you're raising - the inanimate dead requires more nuance.

[Scrivener7]

13. Yes. It changes from a subject to an object that is acted upon.

[malaise]

15. Thanks

I love DU

[Scrivener7]

16. Me too!

[wnylib]

32. If someone was describing a scene that

he/she saw in the past, then "The body lay..." is correct. The body is the subject in this description. If you say "laid" it means someone else put it there and requires the passive past "was laid."

It is possible for a body to lie where it died, without someone putting it there, e.g. "The body lay in the bed" where, presumably the poor person died of illness or murder while in bed.

It is more common in English, though, to use the past progressive, e.g. "The body was lying in bed." (Context will tell the reader/listener whether the body was alive and telling a lie.)

[malaise]

33. That is the exact situation

so LAY it is

[wnylib]

34. Glad to be able to help.

[Foolacious]

14. More generally...

"To lay" is a transitive verb; it requires an object: "I want to lay my burden down."

"To lie" (in the sense of "repose" ) is an intransitive verb; the subject is also the thing acted upon: "I want to lie down."

Confusion arises because the past tense of "to lay" is "laid", while the past tense of "to lie" is "lay".

But the observation of many of the other respondents is correct: epitaphs are usually in the present tense, so neither "laid" nor "lay" would be expected. Unless it was Christ's tomb, in which case "Here lay JC (temporarily)" would be appropriate.

P.S. Is there any way to stop the conversion of certain character strings into smilies?

[malaise]

19. Interesting question

Not sure I agree on laid only applying to a deity.

[malaise]

20. Interesting question

Not sure I agree on laid only applying to a deity.

[tblue37]

21. "Lay" is the past tense of "lie." "Lie" is intransitive (it doesn't take a direct object). "Laid"

I the past tense of "lay," which is transitive (takes a direct object).

Today the corpse lies in repose.
Yesterday the corpse lay in repose.
The corpse has lain in repose for 12 hours.

Today we lay the corpse in the coffin.
Yesterday we laid the corpse in the coffin.
We have lain three corpses in their coffins today.

The present tense of "lay" looks just like the past tense of "lie," which people find confusing.

[malaise]

25. Thanks sis

Lay it is

[tblue37]

22. Here LAY a corpse in repose.

[nolabear]

23. Lay for people. Laid for eggs.

If you do it yourself you lay, or lie, down. In your case, lay. If it’s something placed there by another, it was laid down.

[tblue37]

26. Except that eggs can lie on the grass, or they lay on the table yesterday.

[Donkees]

24. ⚰️

Is it Here lay X (a corpse in repose) or Here laid X (a corpse inn repose)?

A 'corpse inn repose' sounds more like a motel.

[malaise]

27. Hahhahahaha

[DFW]

28. A corpse inn repose?

I resent that depiction of sex after 60!

[malaise]

29. Howling with laughter - good one

[3catwoman3]

35. I'm surprised it took until response #28 for...

...someone in this witty community to take advantage of the double entendre potential waiting in this thread.