How to spell Lying?

Is it lieing or lying...

He was _______ to me about his homework??

1. Use the spell check!

2. Use the dictionary!

3. Use an on line dictionary!

After all, if you take the time to write, you should also take the time to check your spelling and get it right.

And you don't have 3 vowels in the same word at a time. I don't think.

"you don't have 3 vowels in the same word at a time" - I point your view to the word seeing. =P

I should think you'd know..its spelt lying, same as "lying down" or lying still.
No offense. ;-)

beth

ohhhh that reminds me of a spelling question too!!

You know when they talk about lying down and laying down?! which ones right?!

As in..... we are lying on the ground
or.... we are laying on the ground

thats always confused me.. how do you tell the difference?

It has to do with what tense you want to put it in... for example...
We ARE laying on the ground. Present tense.
We WERE lying on the ground. Past tense.

^"We ARE laying on the ground" is improper usage.
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Lie = intransitive verb, meaning to recline.
Lay = transitive verb, meaning to put something down.

The five forms of these verbs (base form, present tense, past tense, present participle, past participle) are as follows:

lie, lies, lying, lay, (have) lain
lay, lays, laying, laid, (have) laid

The main problem here is that people very often use "laid" for "lay." It should be "I lay around all day yesterday," not "I laid around all day yesterday."

If you want to test yourself on correct usage of lie and lay, go here:

http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/lie-lay.html

Confusing word pairs like these are the main reason why I still hold onto my old ESL book. :P

FWIW, here is a very good article on the most frequently misused English words:

http://tinyurl.com/bosuc

Lydia...I was so about to point that out before you said that...we just did this big lie/lay quiz in english and you had to know which forms went where...it was confusing!! but good job smart one!!

xoxo-Sierra Rae

Oh, thanks Sierra. There are a good many reasons to love the English language but this is one of the frustrating reasons to hate it. I've decided to accept that no matter what level of competence I ever reach, I will never have thoroughly mastered the language. I'll still always be a learner. :P

^^ Hehe. Not any on this planet.

""you don't have 3 vowels in the same word at a time" - I point your view to the word seeing. =P"

Oh yeah :P lol. Oops.

"You just started a grammer war."

Grammar.

who started a grandma war????

bEAUtiful -three vowels

Woah :p I just asked a simple question Lmao where did all these vowels and grandma wars?? come from Hehe

Yup. And 3 of those are yours :P

"Is it sad that there are twenty five posts on a thread that only wants to know how to spell "lying"?"

I was going to post an answer but I decided the response warranted a whole new thread. ;-)

Check out "How Many Posters Does It Take..." in the Fun & Humor section.

Thanks. That is VERY useful. I just downloaded it. I even learned a new word while reading the review of this software. *Orthography* = the art or study of correct spelling according to established usage.

its wierd how you knew how to spell it, and if you wantr to be a poet, you should learn to spell

Not all of us can spell all words gee.