I know the difference between lay and lie: You lay the flowers on the table and now they lie there. But I wrote this sentence and "lied beyond" vs "lay beyond" has me confused. Doors and hallways led off in all directions piquing my curiosity as to what lay beyond.That sounds right to me. While this doesn't: Doors and hallways led off in all directions piquing my curiosity as to what lied beyond. What am I doing wrong?
Isn't lied the past tense of lying as in 'telling a porkie'? Lie, Lay, Lain are the three I use (and have struggled with them in the past).
Morning GC (well, it's morning for me...), lie — lies — lying — past = lay — past participle = lain lay — lays — laying — past + past participle = laid [ also not telling the truth: lie — lies — lying — past + past participle = lied ] In your example above, you want the first one (where lay is the past of lie) with its meaning of be located in a specific place or in a certain direction. Doors and hallways led off in all directions piquing my curiosity as to what lay beyond. I hope that helps.