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I wrote a review of the movie Detroit in my blog and in the section What irked me about the film, I started in the following fashion: -

No doubt, Detroit is an engrossing flick, its greatest problem lied in the fact that it runs much longer than it should have.

A friend of mine pointed out that it should be lay instead of lied. I'm confused as to which form is correct and why? Thanks in advance for your help.

Ankit Acharya
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Your friend is right, the past of lie (as in to recline) is lay. You've used the past of lie (to tell an untruth).

This simple table might help you.

However, since you've used the present tense for the rest of the sentence, you may want to use 'lies' instead.

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millman97
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  • Good table. The only slight reservation I have is with the past participle "lain". Nowadays that often becomes "laid", certainly in dialect form in the UK. The Queen would undoubtedly say "lain". – WS2 Dec 19 '17 at 10:34
  • Hmm. "I'd lain down for a rest.", "I'd laid down for a rest." I think I'd have used the first one :/ – millman97 Dec 19 '17 at 10:37
  • But where do you call home? As I said, "in most UK dialects"... But the Queen's English says "lain". – WS2 Dec 19 '17 at 11:53
  • Birmingham, UK. :D and I agree that a lot of people would say laid instead of lain, I was just thinking what I'd say – millman97 Dec 19 '17 at 11:57
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    Bet you don't live in Aston or Sparkhill! You sound like a Solihull chap to me! – WS2 Dec 19 '17 at 12:06
  • I went to school in Aston, but I'm from Sutton Coldfield. What about you? – millman97 Dec 19 '17 at 12:12
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    Thank you @millman97 for the table and the explanation. ^_^ – Ankit Acharya Dec 19 '17 at 12:19
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    That figures. I'm an old Norfolk boy, from the deepest part of the county. And when I first went to grammar school in Norwich in 1954, before they taught me to speak proper, I thought the past-tense of "snow" was "snew", and of "drive" - "driv". – WS2 Dec 19 '17 at 12:21
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    I like snew. Language is constantly evolving, maybe one day snew will make it into the dictionary XD – millman97 Dec 19 '17 at 12:23
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    @millman97 My father used it until the day (almost) he died aged 99 yrs and 9 months in 2014. – WS2 Dec 19 '17 at 18:27
  • I suppose I should've said 'back into the dictionary' :) – millman97 Dec 19 '17 at 19:05