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MUSCOVITE Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
lie - the wrong time is used on purpose?
Hi,
I must be too late with this "Jingle bells" question :-).
Anyway,
............
3. A day or two ago,
The story I must tell
I went out on the snow
And on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by
In a one-horse open sleigh,
He laughed as there I sprawling lie,
But quickly drove away.
Could you please explain why lie (not lay) is used here?
Just to keep the rhyme "by-lie"?
How often is/was such "trick" used in English poetry?
mus-te
I must be too late with this "Jingle bells" question :-).
Anyway,
............
3. A day or two ago,
The story I must tell
I went out on the snow
And on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by
In a one-horse open sleigh,
He laughed as there I sprawling lie,
But quickly drove away.
Could you please explain why lie (not lay) is used here?
Just to keep the rhyme "by-lie"?
How often is/was such "trick" used in English poetry?
mus-te
Top answer
Right, for consistency of tenses it should be "lay". I suppose "lie" was used just for the rhyme, as you say.
- Right, for consistency of tenses it should be "lay".
- I suppose "lie" was used just for the rhyme, as you say.
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6 Answers
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Right, for consistency of tenses it should be "lay". I suppose "lie" was used just for the rhyme, as you say.
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This is okay. In literature, generally, the present tense can be used in past situations for sylistic effect. For example:
As I left the taven a thug knocked me to the pavement and then walked away laughing.
I lie there fuming. There's nothing I can do, since he's 6-4, 300 lbs., and I'm 95 lbs. and 5-4, in high heels.
As I left the taven a thug knocked me to the pavement and then walked away laughing.
I lie there fuming. There's nothing I can do, since he's 6-4, 300 lbs., and I'm 95 lbs. and 5-4, in high heels.
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AnonymousAs I left the taven a thug knocked me to the pavement and then walked away laughing. I lie there fuming. There's nothing I can do, since he's 6-4, 300 lbs., and I'm 95 lbs. and 5-4, in high heels.This is different, though, because the tenses aren't mixed within the same sentence. The prose sentence "He laughed as I lie there sprawling, but quickly dr
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AnonymousThis is okay. In literature, generally, the present tense can be used in past situations for sylistic effect. For example:
As I left the taven a thug knocked me to the pavement and then walked away laughing.
I lie there fuming. There's nothing I can do, since he's 6-4, 300 lbs., and I'm 95 lbs. and 5-4, in high heels.
It is an interesting 00
GPYThis is different, though, because the tenses aren't mixed within the same sentence.Thank you, GPY!
The bottom line is that the "oddity" in question (= intentionally using [in the same sentence!] the wrong tense for stylistic or whatever reasons) is EXTREMELY rare in English literature/poetry?
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