12일차. ♣ Unit 2. Corporate culture - LESSON 1 DESCRIBING YOUR COMPANY'S CULTURE - [Confusable verbs]
※ Confusable verbs
Some verbs look similar and have similar, but not identical, meanings. They are often confused and used incorrectly. It may help to remember which verb takes an object and which doesn't.
Lie can mean 'to recline.' It does not take a direct object. Lay can mean 'to place' or 'to put.' It always has an object. Here are the present and past forms:
Present----------Past----------Past participle
lie----------------lay-----------lain
lay---------------laid-----------laid
You can lie on the couch in the break room if you're not feeling well.
When I arrived at the office, I laid my jacket on the couch.
Note that lay off comes from the verb lay and means 'to put someone out of employment'.
During the recession, they were forced to lay off employees.
Two other verbs that can be confused are rise and raise. Rise means 'to go higher' and never has a direct object; raise means 'to lift higher' and almost always has an object. Here are the present and past forms:
Present ----------Past----------Past participle
rise---------------rose----------risen
raise-------------raised---------raised
When profits rose, the company rewarded everyone.
We encourage everyone to express their opinions. Just raise your hands.
BOB: In summary, because profits rose by 2 percent last month, there will be no layoffs or pay cuts
ALICE: Thanks, Bob. We'd talked about taking a cleaner approach in business process management. By how much do we expect cleaner business processes to cut operating costs?