He always leaves his clothes laying/lying all around the apartment.

Question

Hello.Which of the sentences below is correct (if any)?a) He always leaves his clothes laying all around the apartment.b) He always leaves his clothes lying all around the apartment.I am inclined to say that a) because here clothes are used as an object, but I am not sure because maybe we can interpret this sentence that clothes are lying on their own... I don't know. Can we say as below?c) His clothes are lying all around the apartment.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

ReegisWhich of the sentences below is correct (if any)?

b) He always leaves his clothes lying all around the apartment.

ReegisCan we say as below?c) His clothes are lying all around the apartment.

Yes.

Reegis · Answer

Could you please explain why you chose b)?

In this article http://grammarist.com/usage/lay-lie/ we can read:
Lay needs an http://grammarist.com/grammar/objects/—something being laid—while lie cannot have an object. For example, you might lay a book on the table, lay a sweater on the bed, or lay a child in her crib. When you feel tired at the end of the day, you may lie down.

Based on this, two basic sentences may look like:
- He always lays his clothes all around the apartment (clothes as the object thus 'lay').
- His clothes are lying all around the apartment (clothes as the subject thus 'lie').
So far so good, but I fail to see why we should use 'lie' instead of 'lay' in the original sentence

Mister Micawber · Answer

Reegisbut I fail to see why we should use 'lie' instead of 'lay' in the original sentence

Because the participle complements 'clothes', not 'He'. The relationship of that verb with 'clothes' is the same in both sentences:

He leaves his clothes lying all around the apartment.
His clothes are lying all around the apartment.

Reegis · Answer

Now I understand it. Thanks Mister Micawber

He always leaves his clothes laying/lying all around the apartment.

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