Grammar: Which is the correct form? Lay/Lie?

Question

...excited at all the opportunities that LAY ahead.
or
...excited at all the opportunities that LIE ahead.

Answer 1

ok, I'll solve this:
Excited at all the opportunities that ARE ahead!!!!
(actually it's lie)

Answer 2

Lay Lie Grammar

Answer 3

The correct term is ....opportunities that lie ahead.
Lay is the past tense of lie, in this context the word lie means to be still to come.

Answer 4

Lie

Answer 5

Lie

Answer 6

Lie

Answer 7

You lay down the book you’ve been reading, but you lie down when you go to bed. In the present tense, if the subject is acting on some other object, it’s “lay.” If the subject is lying down, then it’s “lie.” This distinction is often not made in informal speech, partly because in the past tense the words sound much more alike: “He lay down for a nap,” but “He laid down the law.” If the subject is already at rest, you might “let it lie.” If a helping verb is involved, you need the past participle forms. “Lie” becomes “lain” and “lay” becomes “laid”: “He had just lain down for a nap,” and “His daughter had laid the gerbil on his nose.”

Answer 8

Well, either one can be correct! Read on...

"to lay", past tense laid, means to put something down. This means you have to lay something, you can't just lay. For example:
Present tense: When Jenny finishes digging, she lays her shovel down.

Past tense: When Jenny finished digging the hole, she laid her shovel down. (finished action = past tense)

This isn't the verb you want, though, because the opportunities in the sentence, the ones up ahead, aren't putting anything down. They're just resting out there in the distance.

So let's try the other verb, lie. "To lie" is an intransitive verb meaning to rest horizontally. The past tense is "lay". Examples:

After work Jenny usually goes home and lies on the couch. (current or recurring action, present tense)
After work Jenny was tired, so she lay down.
(completed action, past tense)

Now back to your question. The correct form depends on whether the "excited" is occurring now or occurred in the past.
For example:

I'm about to start a new job and I feel excited (present tense) at all the opportunities that lie ahead.

When I first started my job I felt excited (past tense) at all the opportunities that lay ahead.

See, both can be correct!

Answer 9

"Lie" is past descriptive. Things have already been laid down, and they lie there. Persons have lain down, and they lie there.

Opportunities ahead are not yet available, and so they lay ahead. They do not yet lie, (sit, rest), anywhere.
One could say that opportunities lie in wait. There, awaiting.
An ambush lies ahead. Already there. Past descriptive.

Answer 10

use LAY
The first one is correct. It is the way it is.

Excited about all the opportunities that lay ahead.

Answer 11

lie

You can lay a plate on the counter, but you lie in bed.