Posts Tagged ‘lie’

Strong verbs: common mistakes

August 8th, 2011 in Words

Bear

Bear has two past participle forms: born and borne. When referring to the birth of a child, born is used in the passive sense of ‘brought into this world’.

A baby girl was born to Alice.

Borne is used in the active sense of ‘given birth to’.

James is delighted that his wife Alice has borne him a daughter.

In the sense of carry and endure, the past participle is always borne.

The prize was borne away by team Liverpool. (NOT The prize was born away by team Liverpool.)

The arches have borne the weight quite satisfactorily.

Bid has two forms of the past tense and past participle: bade, bidden and bid, bid.

The forms bid / bid / bid are used only in the case of offering a certain price at an auction.

He bid $2000 for the painting. (NOT He bade $2000 …)
He had bid $2000 for the painting, but he couldn’t get it because somebody else made a higher bid.

In all other senses, bade and bidden are used.

I bade him a sad farewell.

The verb lie should not be confused with the verb lay. Lay means to place or put down.

The minister laid the foundation stone of the super specialty hospital.
The goose laid a golden egg.
Mother has laid the table.

To lie means to rest.

I would like to lie in the sun this morning.
While lying in bed, I had an idea.