lie

«lie» in Mova's school dictionary: to rest or be flat on something, like a bed or the ground — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (lie, lies, lay, lain, lying = rest flat); verb (lie, lies, lied, lying = say what is false); noun (a lie, lies)

meaning for a pupil

1) To lie is to rest or be flat on something, like a bed or the ground. tree →

2) To lie is also to be in a place: the town lies by the sea. tree →

3) To lie is to say something you know is not true, to trick someone. tree →

4) A lie is a thing said that the speaker knows is false. tree →

5) To lie up can also mean to hide away and stay out of sight. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths problems it is mostly a word of the story; sometimes it places things lying somewhere to be counted, or it comes in true/false and «who is lying» logic puzzles. In everyday life and safety: telling lies breaks trust; a white lie is a small kind one; lie down when you feel faint. In stories, a lie often starts the trouble.

examples

• 6 cats lie on the rug. tree →
• 12 books lie on the table. tree →
• One of the children lied about the score. tree →
• Lie down on the mat and rest. tree →
• The dog is lying in the sun. tree →
• He told a lie about breaking the window. tree →
• Telling the truth is better than telling lies. tree →
• The village lies at the foot of a hill. tree →
• Yesterday I lay in bed until nine. tree →
• Now, where does he lie up? tree →

note

Two verbs with different past forms: lie (rest) → lay, lain; lie (not tell the truth) → lied, lied. Both have «lying». Trap: the past of «lie» (rest) is «lay», the same as the word «lay» (put down: lay the book on the table). A liar is a person who lies. Maths: usually no clue; it places things to be counted.

In the corpora

• Most people think tiny kind lies are OK, but big lies that hurt people or hide important things are not.
• And when the law decides a story was a lie, the magazine has to pay.
• She whispers to her mum that the girls watched a scary film and she lay awake till three, listening to every creak.
• Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling standing on a scaffold and bending his head back, not lying down.
• Crocodiles cannot sweat, so they lie with their mouths open to let heat out and go into water or shade.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «lie» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.