word choice - Show I use "lay," "laid," or "lain" in the following passage?




The ground was ice-cold, no hint of anyone having lay/laid/lain there at all.



Which one is the correct option?



Answer



to lay - laid - laid - /to put something down/
to lie - lay - lain - /to rest or recline/
to lie - lied - lied - /to deceive, not tell the truth/

Lay is not an option, since grammatically a past participle is required in your context and lay isn't the past participle of anything.


If you consider laid, then you get an incomplete sentence. Anyone having laid what? Remember, laid is the past participle of lay, which is a transitive verb, and as such requires a direct object which is missing in your sentence.


You need lain which is the past participle of lie.



The ground was ice-cold, no hint of anyone having lain there at all.



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