All About English Creative Writing

[Learning Partners]

jeestan:

Hi TAS,


Will you have more creative writing classes in December, will it be the same as the September one? I want to know so I can know when to take leave, must plan ahead hehe

Can you help me with this as well:

What is the difference between lie, lay, laid, lain, laying, lying..I am thoroughly confused about this.

Can I try to answer this?

There are 2 root words here: 'lie' and 'lay'.

The Simple Past Tense form for 'lay' is 'laid' as in

The maid laid the table before serving the dishes.

The Past Participle for 'lay' is also 'laid'.

The maid has laid the table.

'Lay' has 2 meanings:
1. to bluff
2. to be in a horizontal position or be found.

1. Now when 'lie' has the meaning of telling a falsehood, both the Simple Past Tense and Past Participle are 'lied'.

Simple Past Tense: She lied when confronted by the teacher.

Past Participle: She has lied so many times that no one believes her anymore.

2. But when 'lie' does not mean to tell a falsehood (eg lie down on the bed):

the Simple Past Tense is 'lay';

She lay down because she felt giddy.

The Past Participle of 'lay' in this case is 'lain'.

She has lain in bed for many hours.

To summarise, 'lay' as the root word has the Simple Past Tense form of 'laid'. Its Past Participle is also 'laid'.

When 'lie' means to bluff, its Simple Past Tense form and Past Participle form are also the same: 'lied'.

But when 'lie' does not mean to bluff, its Simple Past Tense form is 'lay' and its Past Participle is 'lain'.

Hope this helps.

[Learning Partners]

Realised I did not explain 'laying' and 'lying'.


'Laying' is the Present Participle of 'lay' and is used this way:

The maid is laying the table now in preparation for dinner.

'Lying', on the other hand, is the Present Participle of 'lie' (regardless of definition). An example:

John is definitely lying. I don't believe him.

Mother has been lying in bed since afternoon. She has a headache.

[The Alternative Story]

jeestan:

Hi TAS,


Will you have more creative writing classes in December, will it be the same as the September one? I want to know so I can know when to take leave, must plan ahead hehe

Can you help me with this as well:

What is the difference between lie, lay, laid, lain, laying, lying..I am thoroughly confused about this.

Hi jeestan,

The December classes will also have the creative writing element, but
we will bring them outdoors for some exposure to the arts and history
and weave it into the lessons. We will let you know once the dates
are confirmed

For lie, lay etc, Learning Partners has provided information on it.

An easy way to remember:

Inanimate objects/animals cannot move much by themselves(they
cannot travel very far as compared to human beings, hence we can
only do 2 'actions' with them-lay and laid):

- Lay (present tense), Laid (past tense), Laid (Past Participle)

Eg:

I lay/laid/had laid the table

The chicken lay/laid/had laid its eggs

Human beings are smarter, they can think of ways to move
very far- using planes etc, so there are 3 ways to describe the
way they move- lie, lay, lain

- Lie (present tense), Lay (Past tense), Lain (Past Participle)

Eg:

I lie/lay/had lain down

For lying - as in to tell a lie, the more lies you tell, the more worst it
gets. So for 'lying' we keep in simple, just 2 ways of describing it-
lie, lied.

I lie/lied

TAS

[jeestan]

The Alternative Story:

jeestan:

Hi TAS,


Will you have more creative writing classes in December, will it be the same as the September one? I want to know so I can know when to take leave, must plan ahead hehe

Can you help me with this as well:

What is the difference between lie, lay, laid, lain, laying, lying..I am thoroughly confused about this.

Hi jeestan,

The December classes will also have the creative writing element, but
we will bring them outdoors for some exposure to the arts and history
and weave it into the lessons. We will let you know once the dates
are confirmed

For lie, lay etc, Learning Partners has provided information on it.

An easy way to remember:

Inanimate objects/animals cannot move much by themselves(they
cannot travel very far as compared to human beings, hence we can
only do 2 'actions' with them-lay and laid):

- Lay (present tense), Laid (past tense), Laid (Past Participle)

Eg:

I lay/laid/had laid the table

The chicken lay/laid/had laid its eggs

Human beings are smarter, they can think of ways to move
very far- using planes etc, so there are 3 ways to describe the
way they move- lie, lay, lain

- Lie (present tense), Lay (Past tense), Lain (Past Participle)

Eg:

I lie/lay/had lain down

For lying - as in to tell a lie, the more lies you tell, the more worst it
gets. So for 'lying' we keep in simple, just 2 ways of describing it-
lie, lied.

I lie/lied

TAS

Hi TAS,

Thanks for providing the information on the holiday prog and also for the grammar tips, thanks learning partners too.

TAS,

How do you tell the difference between envelop and envelope and also instant and instance?

[hermes173]

I need with ‘ascent’ and ‘ascend’.


I know that ‘ascent’ is the noun form while ‘ascend’ is the verb.

But my ds cannot remember this despite explaining it to him several times. How can I help him to remember this?

[Learning Partners]

hermes173:

I need with 'ascent' and 'ascend'.


I know that 'ascent' is the noun form while 'ascend' is the verb.

But my ds cannot remember this despite explaining it to him several times. How can I help him to remember this?

Hi hermes173,

Taking a leaf from TAS' book, you can use mnemonics to help your son remember the difference between the words.

'Ascent' ends with 'cent'. A cent is a thing [noun], hence 'ascent' is also a noun.

'Ascend' ends with 'end', which can act as a verb. So 'ascend' is a verb.

[Learning Partners]

Hi Jeestan,


'Envelop' is a verb and it means to wrap up or cover.

Eg:

Darkness will envelop the room once we turn off the lights.

'Envelope' is a noun, referring commonly to the container that we use to post letters in.

To remember which is which, think that the envelope which contains the letter must be longer than the letter hence it should be the longer word, 'envelope'.

'Instant' means a short space of time.

Eg:

Please hold on. I will attend to you in an instant.

'Instance' refers to an example.

Eg:

This is another instance of his irresponsibility.

In fact, 'instance' is commonly used in the phrase 'for instance', which means 'for example'.

To differentiate between the two, just remember that: 'instance' ends with 'e', so it means 'example'

while

'instant' ends with 't' so it means a short space of time.

[jasmineong]

Hi TAS, sorry I feel like I am asking a lot of qns but just want to ask bout the things you said about flashback, how not to make it sound cliched? In school, the teacher will say can use flashback but then everyone’s flashback is the same, so a bit hilarious and in PSLE, is it ok if everyone is the same? Thanks again.

[hermes173]

Learning Partners:

hermes173:

I need with 'ascent' and 'ascend'.


I know that 'ascent' is the noun form while 'ascend' is the verb.

But my ds cannot remember this despite explaining it to him several times. How can I help him to remember this?

Hi hermes173,

Taking a leaf from TAS' book, you can use mnemonics to help your son remember the difference between the words.

'Ascent' ends with 'cent'. A cent is a thing [noun], hence 'ascent' is also a noun.

'Ascend' ends with 'end', which can act as a verb. So 'ascend' is a verb.

Thanks, Learning Partners. I explained to ds using your method and it worked! :love:

[The Alternative Story]

jeestan:

Hi TAS,

Thanks for providing the information on the holiday prog and also for the grammar tips, thanks learning partners too.

TAS,

How do you tell the difference between envelop and envelope and also instant and instance?

Hi jeestan,

No problem

Learning Partners has provided some mnemonics to tell the difference
between envelop and envelope and instant and instance.

Here is some extra information on 'instant'

For instant and instance:

Instant can be both a noun and an adjective:

Instant (an adjective)

Eg:

-Instant noodles
- Instant feedback

Here, instant is an adjective (it is used to describe a noun-noodles +
feedback)

How to differentiate Instant(adjective) and Instant (noun)

Adjective: It is used usually before the noun

Noun: It is used after articles (an, the), demonstrative pronouns (this, that), indefinite pronouns (any)

Eg:

The instant (adjective) photo booth is not working.

At any given instant (noun), you can only see one waiter in the
cafe.

So, 'instant' can mean:

1) In a specific moment (noun)

- In that instant, I saw my future unfold

2) Immediate (adjective)

- I want to drink instant coffee (coffee that can be
drunk immediately)


'Instance' on the other hand would always be only a
noun.
It means example.

- I can only think of one instance where Chinese New Year was
celebrated in my family.

TAS