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Sb70012 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Lay back
These words are Milton's, but they express with precision what the Greeks thought lay back of the very first beginning of things. Long before the gods appeared, in the dim past, uncounted ages ago, there was only the formless confusion of Chaos brooded over by unbroken darkness.
Source: Mythology http://www.freewebs.com/mythosnet/4_creation.html 2nd paragraph
Hello,
I have checked the dictionaries but in spite of that I can't see what it means in my text.
I even don't know whether it's a noun or an adjective or a verb in above text.
I found some threads related to my question but I think "lay back" in the above text is not an adjective to have the meaning of "to rest or relax".
Would you please be kind enough to clarify it to me?
Thank you very much
Source: Mythology http://www.freewebs.com/mythosnet/4_creation.html 2nd paragraph
Hello,
I have checked the dictionaries but in spite of that I can't see what it means in my text.
I even don't know whether it's a noun or an adjective or a verb in above text.
I found some threads related to my question but I think "lay back" in the above text is not an adjective to have the meaning of "to rest or relax".
Would you please be kind enough to clarify it to me?
Thank you very much
Top answer
These words are Milton's, but they express with precision what the Greeks thought lay back of the very first beginning of things These words are Milton's, but they express with precision what the Greeks thought were situated behind / had happened before the very first beginning of things. Lay back of is a phrasal verb. I beleve it is characteristic of American English.
- These words are Milton's, but they express with precision what the Greeks thought lay back of the very first beginning of things These words are Milton's, but they express with precision what the Greeks thought were situated behind / had happened before the very first beginning of things.
- Lay back of is a phrasal verb.
- I beleve it is characteristic of American English.
- eg The house lay back of a high fence.
- eg His years of research lay back of his winning the Nobel prize.
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5 Answers
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These words are Milton's, but they express with precision what the Greeks thought lay back of the very first beginning of things
These words are Milton's, but they express with precision what the Greeks thought were situated behind / had happened before the very first beginning of things.
These words are Milton's, but they express with precision what the Greeks thought were situated behind / had happened before the very first beginning of things.
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I don't see how that sentence can be correct. The most obvious correction is to write "what the Greeks thought lay back at the very beginning of things" ("first beginning" also seems redundant, but that isn't so relevant to your question).
"lay" is a verb (past tense of "lie") meaning in this case something like "resided" or "existed".
"back" goes with the phrase "back at
"lay" is a verb (past tense of "lie") meaning in this case something like "resided" or "existed".
"back" goes with the phrase "back at
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CliveLay back of is a phrasal verb. I beleve it is characteristic of American English.Oh, OK, sorry, I have never heard of it. To me it just sounds ungrammatical.
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sb70012what the Greeks thought lay back of the very first beginning of things.Here, back of = behind.
what (the Greeks thought) was behind the very first beginning of things
lay back of (was behind) is used metaphorically to mean "came before". The Greeks thought that it came before t
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