By Direct objects, Verbs

Were lay the past form of lie, it would be intransitive; as such, it couldn't be followed by a direct object (myself). Therefore, lay in 'I lay myself in bed' is the present tense of lay, laid, laid -- although the use of lay as a reflexive verb sounds a bit odd to my ears. I suggest...

John: subject (noun)tends to get hungry: predicatetends to get: head of the predicate (verb phrase)hungry: predicative, subjective complement or subject complement (adjective)Randolph Quirk considers "tend to" a semi-auxiliary verb. This would make "get" (a linking verb) the...

In response to the questions posed in the first post of this thread, "the officer" is NOT the subject of the sentence regardless of whether the sentence is active or passive. "The officer" is undoubtedly the doer of the action in both sentences, but it is the subject only in...

It would be wrong to say: 'Give me it'. The correct sentence is 'Give it to me'. If you have a noun then it's OK: 'Give me the book' or 'Give the book to me' (to emphasise the addressee of the action). But some verbs do not admit of the indirect object, e.g....

"It lay a dog on the bed" does attempt, unsuccessfully, to make 'it' the subject. The prepatory 'there' is never the subject of a sentence. "There was a dog lying on the bed." In this sentence the dog is the subject, because this is what the verb is happening...

.There must be some way to alert non-native speakers that native teachers of English and trained ESLs generally know what they are talking about.Did you read this thread, Anon? Do we really have to waste our energies repeating ourselves over and over?Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Sometimes I...

The same answers also apply. you is the subject. are doing is the verb. what is the direct object. The rest is adverbial.CJ

You lay a table when you put plates and cutlery on it ready for a meal. (Times-Chambers Essential English Dictionary)

This sentence isn't the best example. We don't say that. Mother is setting the table by laying out the dishes. You all are missing one key element to the difference. Lay is a transitive verb (it must take a direct object), and lie is an intransitive verb. This is why we lay a plate on...

All I can say is that it is a non-finite clause. I am not sure whether the label "direct object" would fit here, because you cannot "tend something". You can only "tend to do something" or "tend to behave in a particular manner". If I were to call it...