Choose the grammatically CORRECT sentence. A. He laid in bed till 8 o'clock in the morning. B. He layed in bed till 8 o'clock in the morning. C. He lain in bed till 8 o'clock in the morning. D. He lay in bed till 8 o'clock in the morning.

GATE 2012 · General Aptitude · Grammatical Error · easy

Answer: Option D is correct: 'He lay in bed till 8 o'clock in the morning.' uses the proper simple past of the intransitive verb 'lie'.

1. Identify the verb needed: The sentence describes someone reclining (not placing an object) in the past. The required verb is the intransitive 'lie' in the simple past tense.
2. Apply principal parts of 'lie': Simple past of intransitive 'lie' = 'lay'. The sentence needs this form without any helping verb, so 'He lay in bed...' is correct.
3. Eliminate incorrect options: A uses 'laid' (wrong verb category), B uses 'layed' (non-standard), C uses 'lain' without a helping verb. Only D ('lay') is grammatically correct.