Mark is chatting with his classmate Ming in the common room of their dorm.

    Ming: Hi, Mark. Can you help me out with something?

    Mark: Sure. What's up?

    Ming: I'm having some problems with some words.

    Mark: You mean things that are easily confused?

    Ming: That's right. These two are really terrible: "lay" and "lie."

    Mark: Oh, boy! You're not kidding. Do you remember the meaning of transitive and intransitive verbs?

    Ming: Let's see... transitive verbs require an object, like "hit" in "The boy hit the ball."

    Mark: That's right.

    Ming: And intransitive verbs don't, like, "She smiled."

    Mark: Perfect. Although some verbs can be either: "He sang" or "He sang a song."

    Ming: Yes, I remember.

    Mark: Good. Then, "lie" is an intransitive verb when it means something like "lie down in bed."

    Ming: Right, or "Beijing lies in the north of China." This is intransitive.

    Mark: Good! But "lay" is transitive: "Please lay the book on the table."

    Ming: Got it. The present tense was no problem. But I got confused about the past tense.

    Mark: With good reason! Because the past tense of "lay" is "laid"--

    Ming: "He laid the book on the table."

    Mark: Yes. But the past tense of "lie" is "lay."

    Ming: Argh!

    Mark: I know. "He lay in bed all day yesterday."

    Ming: It's so unfair! And then we have the past participle.

    Mark: Oh, yeah. "He has laid the book on the table many times."

    Ming: And--is this right?--"He has lain in bed for three days now."

    Mark: That's right! So the intransitive verb is lie - lay - lain.

    Ming: And the transitive is lay - laid - laid.

    Mark: You've got it!

    Ming: Okay, what about "lie" meaning "tell an untruth?"

    Mark: Uh-oh. That one is a regular verb. "Don't lie." "She lied about her age." "She has lied about that for years."

    Ming: Okay: lie - lied - lied. A regular intransitive verb.

    Mark: Excellent!

    Ming: Here's another word I'm confused about: "lead" rhyming with "need."

    Mark: Okay. That's a verb: "The manager will lead his team well."

    Ming: And the past is--led?

    Mark: That's right. Lead - led - led.

    Ming: But isn't there a word "lead" that rhymes with "red?"

    Mark: That's right, but it's a noun, the material whose abbreviation is Pb.

    Ming: Like "lead pipe" and so on.

    Mark: Exactly.

    Ming: Okay, here's one more pair: "lose" and "loose."

    Mark: Good one! "Lose" is a verb, the opposite of "win," and it rhymes with "whose."

    Ming: And the past is "lost?"

    Mark: Right. "We lost the game yesterday."

    Ming: And "loose?"

    Mark: That's an adjective, the opposite of "tight." It rhymes with "goose."

    Ming: Okay, got it. Thanks, Mark!

    Mark: My pleasure.