Grammar Geek - Answers

Answer to last week's poll:

Grammar Geek: 'Laid' and 'Lay'

 Which of the following is correct?
A:  Yesterday the chicken laid an egg.
B:  Yesterday the chicken layed an egg.
C:  The soldier lay down his weapon.
D:  The soldier layed down his weapon.

A is correct.

B & D are wrong – there is no part of the verb ‘layed’
C is wrong – it would have to have read:
The soldier lays down his weapon.

I always thought there was just a past tense ‘layed’ – nope…wrong.

To lie:    Lie –  Lay –  LainTo Lay: Lay – Laid – Laid

Present Tense 
Simple Past Tense     
Perfect Tense
To Lie:



I lie down   
Yesterday I lay down
I have often lain down after studying grammar
To Lay


The soldier lays his gun down
Yesterday the soldier laid his gun down
The soldier has laid his gun down




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 Licence VS License


Which of the following is correct?

Can I see your driving license? Correct in the U.S.
Can I see your driving licence? Correct in the U.K.
Here 'licence' is a noun


The restaurant is licensed to sell alcohol.
The restaurant is licensed to sell alcohol. Correct
Here 'licensed' is a verb

FYI: In UK English, license is a verb – in the U.S. it is both a verb and a noun.
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Which version is correct:


                                                #1  Vehicles left at owners risks
                                                #2  Vehicle's left at owners risk
                                                #3  Vehicles left at owners' risk
                                                #4  Vehicles left at owner's risk



Version #3 is correct.

Vehicles (simply a plural noun) - and possessive s' because there is more than one owner incurring risk.
#4 is not incorrect but one would assume that in the parking lot there is more than one car, ergo more than one owner.
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Previous Grammar Geek polls:

Which of the following is correct:

#1  A dog knows when its time for its meal.
 #2  A dog knows when it's time for its meal.
#3  A dog know's when its time for it's meal.
#4  A dog knows when its time for it's meal.

Version #2 is the correct one.

A dog knows when it's  time for its meal.

The first 'it's' is the diminutive of  'it is' - It is time.
The second 'its' is the possessive - just like his or her meal.
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Further vs Farther

In the simplest of explanations - since that's about all I can handle.
Farther  has the word FAR hiding in it - so it's to do with physical distance.
How much farther is it to the next pub?
Further - is used to describe distance of a non-physical kind (or metaphysical/figurative).
I continue to further my pub-crawling education.




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