Practice Makes Perfect

Confusion arises between these two verbs because of their conjugations. Compare them in all

the tenses and take particular note of the past tense of to lie:

to lay to lie

Present he lays he lies

Past he laid he lay

Present Perfect he has laid he has lain

Past Perfect he had laid he had lain

Future he will lay he will lie

Future Perfect he will have laid he will have lain

If there is any difficulty deciding whether to use layor lie, substitute putfor the verb. If it makes

sense, use lay. If it doesn’t, use lie.

He putsthe baby on the bed. (makes sense) He laysthe baby on the bed.

She putson the bed and sleeps. (makes no sense)  She lieson the bed and sleeps.

Littleand A Little

This pair of words is similar to fewand a few. Littlehas a negative implication. A littleshows a more

positive point of view. Some examples:

The Sentence The Implication

Little is known about him Not much is known about him.

(There is a negative implication here.)

A little is known about him. Something is known about him but not a lot.

(This implication is more positive.)

She does little work. She doesn’t work much.

(There is a negative implication here.)

She does a little work. She does some work but not much.

(This implication is more positive.)

He says little. He doesn’t say much.

(There is a negative implication here.)

He says a little. He says something but not much.

(This implication is more positive.)

Thanand Then

In rapid conversation these words are rarely confused, even though they sound so much alike.

But in writing they must be distinguished. Thancan be used as a preposition or a conjunction

and stands between two elements that are being compared: Marisa is taller thanAnthony. She

runs faster thanyou do.

The word thenhas two major functions: (1) it can be used as an adverb and answers the question

when, or (2) it can be a conjunction and combines two clauses with the meaning “and as a con-

sequence or thereafter.” Let’s compare these two functions:

128 Practice Makes Perfect: English Grammar for ESL Learners

06 (099-132B) Units 20-25 11/3/04 1:42 PM Page 128