however, i did a little research and it seems that laid is a transitive verb and lain is an intransitive verb... whatever those are

oh yah, btw, lay and laid go together, lie and lain go together... so where ever you would use lie in the present, you would use lain in the past, where ever you would use lay in the present, it's laid in the past...

anyways, this is all a bunch of gibberish to me, i'm just sharing the product of my own research so far... now i'm going to go find out the difference between transitives and intransitives

quote:

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Prudence ran all the way to the bakery.

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cannot be transformed into

quote:

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Something was run all the way to the bakery by Prudence.

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This sentence has no direct object; furthermore, to run something is a completely different verb, meaning-wise, than to run. The first is transitive, the second intransitive.

Now to lay, lie, lain, laid.

There are two verbs: to lay and to lie. To lay is transitive.

Ex: Sylvia lays her silver cutlery gently in the drawer.

To lie is intransitive, and it is only used in the sense of a person lying down.

Ex: Joshua lies down when he feels sick. He lies on the bed.

The problem is that the past tense of lie (the intransitive one) is lay.

Ex: Joshua lay down because he felt sick. He lay on the bed.

The past tense of lay is laid.

Jingle bells.
Batman smells.
Robin laid an egg.

"Laid" is only used when something/someone laid something else, because it is the past tense version of lay.

"Lain" is the past participle of "to lie," so it's used with the verb "to have." I had lain in bed all weekend. How long has that corpse lain beside the road?

Present, past, past participle:

lie, lay, lain
lay, laid, laid

quote:

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Ok English grammar people....please help me. Generally, when do you use lay, lie, lain, and laid? And specifically, is this correct?
"Prudence had lain out her best china atop a fancy linen tablecloth."

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To say:
"Prudence had lain out her best china atop a fancy linen tablecloth."

is different from saying:
"Prudence laid out her best china atop a fancy linen tablecloth."

Now, if we were writing in Frnech, I would have a better idea of the specific grammar terms, as it is English, I can only give you the reason and usage as I understand it.

If you say "had lain" it is talking about an action that happened in the past. It would be the same usage asa if you were saying, "Prudence had made her bed up with satin sheets and plenty of pillows." You could even a phrase, refering to a specific time (i.e. ...had lain...that morning0.

If you say "laid" it is like we are watching her do it. Using the bed analogy, "Prudence made her bed up with satin sheets and plenty of pillows."

I think part of the usage also depends on POV.

> "Prudence had lain out her best china atop
> a fancy linen tablecloth."

And on the confusion between lain and laid, maybe come up with your own way to remember. Say, "I know a handsome guy named Lain who I wouldn't mind Lying down with."

So here's the rest. A day late and a dollar short.

Harbrace College Handbook:
Sit means to "be seated."
Lie(as in lie down) means to "rest in or get into a horizontal position."
To set or lay means to set something down, place it or put it somewhere.
So, sit and lie are independent movements of a self (including--if this isn't all confusing enough--an 'it'), set and lay are motions that a self does to something else. Think, "set the table and lay out the silverware". Think, "sit down and lie like a rug",

The Handbook then gives the tenses of these four words as follows and in this order--Present (Infinitive), Past, Past Participle, Present Participle:

(to) sit, sat, sat, sitting
(to) set, set, set, setting
(to) lie, lay, lain, lying
(to) lay, laid, laid, laying

Practical examples:
SIT down. SITTING down, I thought it over. He SAT up. I HAD SAT on that chair.
LIE down. I LAY down. It was LYING here. HAS it LAIN here long?
Somebody HAD SET the pup in the cart. It HAD BEEN SET there.
We OUGHT TO LAY these aside. These SHOULD BE LAID aside.

Taking the above into account, Prudence would need to have LAID out her best china.