The only two that can't stand as complete sentences, in my opinion, are "He singed" and "He lay."1. He walked.
2. He singed.
3. He slept.
4. He stood.
5. He sat.
6. He lay.
7. He danced.
Are they all complete sentence?
I think it can be used intransitively."Singe" (meaning "lightly burn") is a strongly transitive verb;
"He lay" wants an adverb or adverbial of some kind, whether related to place ("He lay there," "He lay on the couch") or direction ("He lay down").
I am sorry. My 2 is "He sang."The only two that can't stand as complete sentences, in my opinion, are "He singed" and "He lay."
"Singe" (meaning "lightly burn") is a strongly transitive verb; it wants and needs a direct object, even in the past tense ("singed"). Did you mean to write "He sang"?
"He lay" wants an adverb or adverbial of some kind, whether related to place ("He lay there," "He lay on the couch") or direction ("He lay down").
My 6 is "He lay (in bed)." Do I have to add "in bed" to make it a complete sentence?Apart from number 6, whose verb is incorrectly being used intransitively, they all count as grammatically complete sentences.
2. He sang.
My 6 is "He lay (in bed)." Do I have to add "in bed" to make it a complete sentence?
I looked it up in the dictionary, and found that "sit", "lie(lay)", "stand" are all "incomplete intransitive verbs".Phlebas the Phoenician and I think you have to add something like 'in bed', yes.
So why can I say "He stood" and "He sat" while I can't say "He lay?"
Sit, for example, isn’t an incomplete intransitive verb exclusively -- it is also a complete intransitive verb(*1), and this is where you get “He sat.” Lie is pretty much the same. Here is one example: “They lay.”(*2)I looked it up in the dictionary, and found that "sit", "lie(lay)", "stand" are all "incomplete intransitive verbs".
It’s not a question of “can” or “can’t”. It’s just that anglophones pretty much don’t say “s/he lay” or “I lay” in daily lives. With the right context, it’s possible (like the example shown above).So why can I say "He stood" and "He sat" while I can't say "He lay?"
That example is a translation of a Russian sentence, so I'd be cautious about regarding it as a "right context" for using "lay" as a predicate unto itself in standard English.It’s just that anglophones pretty much don’t say “s/he lay” or “I lay” in daily lives. With the right context, it’s possible (like the example shown above).
So, with regard to "stand" and "sit", these two words can be seen as "incomplete intransitive verbs" even when they are used without an adverb or adverbial. And if these two verbs are used with "adjective", then they can be seen as a "linking verb", is that correct.That example is a translation of a Russian sentence, so I'd be cautious about regarding it as a "right context" for using "lay" as a predicate unto itself in standard English.
"Lay" can certainly end a sentence or clause, but there will normally be an adverb or adverbial elsewhere which is related to "lay":
"There he lay."
"She was in the room where he lay."
When "lay" is used without an adverb or adverbial, it will normally function as a sort of linking verb, introducing an expression applying to the subject:
"He lay still."
"They lay awake."
I checked the Oxford English Dictionary online and briefly thought I'd found a very respectable old example of "lay" functioning without an adverbial or complement:
"O bliss, when all in circle drawn
About him, heart and ear were fed
To hear him, as he lay and read
The Tuscan poets on the lawn:"
- Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memorium (1850)
However, even in that example, there is an adverbial related to "lay." It is down on the next line: ". . . he lay . . . on the lawn."
So, with regard to "stand" and "sit", these two words can be seen as "incomplete intransitive verbs" even when they are used without an adverb or adverbial. And if these two verbs are used with "adjective", then they can be seen as a "linking verb", is that correct.
For example:
1. They lay there. (lay is a incomplete intransitive verb)
2. They lay still. (lay is a linking verb)
I'm saying that He stood and He sat are complete whereas He lay is incomplete. It's incomplete in that it needs a complement in order to express a complete thought.
But "stand" and "sit" can also be among them.I dislike the idea that there are "incomplete verbs." All verbs are complete. Many verbs just need one or more additions (a direct object, a subject complement, an adverbial) to form a complete predicate in a clause or sentence. However, "stand" and "sit" are not among such verbs. I agree with Jutfrank:
But "stand" and "sit" can also be among them.
Is that correct?
1. He sits still. (OK)No, 'stand' and 'sit' are not among them. These two verbs don't need anything more to form a complete predicate.