A burst of nausea hit him as he remembered where his own interests truly laid. A burst of nausea hit him as he remembered where his own interests truly lay. A burst of nausea hit him as he remembered where his own interests truly lied. A burst of nausea hit him as he remembered where his own interests truly layed.
I think it's the 3rd one as well, but I believe the proper term is "lain". I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure. Someone better at this stuff can hopefully confirm or refute.
Pretty sure it's #2. Lie is for the subject. I lie down. Its past form is lay. I lay down yesterday. Lain would be: I would have lain down for hours if I'd had the time. Lay is for the object. I lay the book down on the table. The past form is laid. I laid the book down on the table. The "lain" equivalent is also laid. I would have laid the book down on the table if I'd remembered to bring it. As far as I understand it, anyway. And I definitely don't know the proper grammatical terms for anything EDIT: Actually, thinking on it, it might be "where his own interests truly lie." I think it depends on the tense.
2 is your answer. When something is sitting/reclining/not-budging/staying-in-focus, you use lie. The past tense of lie is lay, and that's what's so tricky (for starters . . .) Last week his interests lay in drinking to excess, but now they lie in avoiding bursts of nausea. (past tense) ---------------------------------------------------- (present tense) Also, don't be afraid to cheat with Google Ngram.
Thank you all. That's three for #2 now, if you include the grammar-obsessed friend I texted with the same question. I'm going with #2.
