He walked.

[dunchee]

That example is a translation of a Russian sentence

I know it’s a work of translation. I was hoping one of the two translators would be creditable enough.

Here is a slightly better one (fingers crossed):
https://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Paul_Neil_Milne_Johnstone

The worst poem in the universe

The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool.
They lay. They rotted. They turned
Around occasionally.
Bits of flesh dropped off them from
Time to time.
And sank into the pool's mire.
They also smelt a great deal.

- Paul Neil Milne Johnstone

As for "as he lay", here is an except from The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien:
Chapter 4 The Siege of Gondor

‘Faramir! Faramir!’ men cried, weeping in the streets. But he did not answer, and they bore him away up the winding road to the Citadel and his father. Even as the Nazgûl had swerved aside from the onset of the White Rider, there came flying a deadly dart, and Faramir, as he held at bay a mounted champion of Harad, had fallen to the earth. Only the charge of Dol Amroth had saved him from the red southland swords that would have hewed him as he lay.

The Prince Imrahil brought Faramir to the White Tower, and he said: ‘Your son has returned, lord, ...

 

[dunchee]

For example:
1. They lay there. (lay is a incomplete intransitive verb)

In this sentence, "lay" is a complete intransitive verb.

2. They lay still. (lay is a linking verb)

In this sentence, "lay" is an incomplete transitive verb.

 

[Tarheel]

@dunchee That is pretty bad.

 

[Tarheel]

I'd be willing to bet that most native speakers have no idea what an incomplete transitive verb is. Or a complete one either for that matter.

(I forget more grammar terms every day. )

 

[dunchee]

I'd be willing to bet that most native speakers have no idea what an incomplete transitive verb is....

Me either.
I mean I know it now, but I also know I'll forget it pretty soon. I consulted my dictionary and looked up those terms for the benefit of the OP.

 

[Phlebas the Phoenician]

I know it’s a work of translation. I was hoping one of the two translators would be creditable enough.

Here is a slightly better one (fingers crossed):
https://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Paul_Neil_Milne_Johnstone

The worst poem in the universe

The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool.
They lay. They rotted. They turned
Around occasionally.
Bits of flesh dropped off them from
Time to time.
And sank into the pool's mire.
They also smelt a great deal.

- Paul Neil Milne Johnstone

As for "as he lay", here is an except from The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien:
Chapter 4 The Siege of Gondor
Faramir! Faramir!’ men cried, weeping in the streets. But he did not answer, and they bore him away up the winding road to the Citadel and his father. Even as the Nazgûl had swerved aside from the onset of the White Rider, there came flying a deadly dart, and Faramir, as he held at bay a mounted champion of Harad, had fallen to the earth. Only the charge of Dol Amroth had saved him from the red southland swords that would have hewed him as he lay.

The Prince Imrahil brought Faramir to the White Tower, and he said: ‘Your son has returned, lord, ...

Interesting examples, Dunchee. It seems to me that, on the rare occasions when "lay" occurs as an predicate unto itself in a clause, an adverbial meaning is already present in the context, so that the adverbial goes without saying. In your Johnstone example, the adverbial inherent in the meaning is "in the stagnant pool"; it has just been used in the preceding sentence. Compare: "He laughed at them. He laughed." The phrase "at them" carries forward at the level of meaning. In the Tolkien example, we find out in the preceding sentence that "Faramir . . . had fallen to the earth." Thus, it was on the earth that he lay "as he lay."

Another interesting example that comes to mind is the saying "Let sleeping dogs lie." My semantic gloss: "Let sleeping dogs lie (wherever they are sleeping)."

 

[jutfrank]

I've been thinking about this throughout the day today. Here's where I am right now:

It occurs to me that when the sense of the verb 'lie' is location, it must be classed as a two-place predicate, requiring two arguments—the thing doing the lying plus the locative adverbial phrase. I don't see how anyone could dispute this, since the locative adverbial phrase is what gives the verb its locative sense in the first place. The sense of the verb is dependent upon the second argument.

The wreck lay unseen on the ocean floor for a thousand years.
Belletown lies on the beautiful southern coast of Ruritania.

But when the sense is purely about body position, it's reasonable to treat the verb 'lie' as a one-place predicate, and count any locative phrase as an adjunct.

A: Would you prefer to stand or sit?
B: Actually, to be quite honest I'd prefer to lie.

Both of dunchee's nice examples use the verb in this latter way.

 

[jutfrank]

Another interesting example that comes to mind is the saying "Let sleeping dogs lie." My semantic gloss: "Let sleeping dogs lie (wherever they are sleeping)."

Yes, that's an interesting example. On first consideration, the sense seems to be about location ('Let sleeping dogs stay where they are'). I don't know how to deal with this one. I wonder if it could firstly be about body position with the implication that any dog in a lying position is not going to move since it's sleeping.

 

[emsr2d2]

Another interesting example that comes to mind is the saying "Let sleeping dogs lie." My semantic gloss: "Let sleeping dogs lie (wherever they are sleeping)."

A similar use is "You couldn't let it lie", meaning "You just couldn't leave it alone, could you?!", in the context of a topic or an issue that someone keeps bringing up even when there's no longer any real need to.

 

[Phlebas the Phoenician]

I've been thinking about this throughout the day today. Here's where I am right now:

It occurs to me that when the sense of the verb 'lie' is location, it must be classed as a two-place predicate, requiring two arguments—the thing doing the lying plus the locative adverbial phrase. I don't see how anyone could dispute this, since the locative adverbial phrase is what gives the verb its locative sense in the first place. The sense of the verb is dependent upon the second argument.

The wreck lay unseen on the ocean floor for a thousand years.
Belletown lies on the beautiful southern coast of Ruritania.

But when the sense is purely about body position, it's reasonable to treat the verb 'lie' as a one-place predicate, and count any locative phrase as an adjunct.

A: Would you prefer to stand or sit?
B: Actually, to be quite honest I'd prefer to lie.

Both of dunchee's nice examples use the verb in this latter way.

I like your reflections here, Jutfrank, and you may be right about the possibility of adverbial-independent, mere body-position meaning with "lie" in noncopulative usage; and perhaps that does account for Tolkien's "as he lay" -- as opposed to my explanation, postulating a ghostlike adverbial inherited from the context.

I myself tend to add "down" ("lie/lay down") when I want the mere body-position meaning: "When I saw him, he was lying down." I grant that that could mean he was in the act of going from an upright to a lying position when I saw him, but I think that it also works to say "He was lying down" when he is already in a lying position.

I think it is the copulative usage that involves the body-position meaning without an addition like "down." Here's an example from Byron that comes to mind:

"Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown." (Lord Byron, "The Destruction of Sennacherib")

 

[jutfrank]

... as opposed to my explanation, postulating a ghostlike adverbial inherited from the context.

To me, your explanantion makes sense too.

I myself tend to add "down" ("lie/lay down") when I want the mere body-position meaning: "When I saw him, he was lying down." I grant that that could mean he was in the act of going from an upright to a lying position

Yes, this is exactly what I was thinking earlier. I think it's correct.

when I saw him, but I think that it also works to say "He was lying down" when he is already in a lying position.

Yes. I won't for a second be bold enough to say that using 'down' is wrong but I do think it may be a violation of something. I wonder if you see the verb 'sit' in a similar way? I guess you would. Take the sentence:

He's sitting down.

Would your first interpretation be that he's changing his body position rather than him being in a certain position? For me, it's the former.

 

[Phlebas the Phoenician]

Yes. I won't for a second be bold enough to say that using 'down' is wrong but I do think it may be a violation of something. I wonder if you see the verb 'sit' in a similar way? I guess you would. Take the sentence:

He's sitting down.

Would your first interpretation be that he's changing his body position rather than him being in a certain position? For me, it's the former.

For me, in the absence of context and in the progressive, there is ambiguity with both "lying down" and "sitting down" between being in the lying or sitting position or moving into that position; I can't say what the default meaning is for me in the progressive. In the simple tenses, past or present, as well as in (nonprogressive) infinitive contexts ("It is relaxing to lie/sit down after being on one's feet for hours"), the default meaning is unquestionably the one involving motion to a new position.

However, I do think it's possible for there to be simple positional meaning with "lie down," even in the simple tenses. (This is perhaps not the case with "sit down.") Interestingly, in archaic English, the be-perfect (cf. "The Lord is come") could be used with "lie down." That is, it is possible to find cases of "is lain down": "At my cousin's request, while she is lain down, I proceed my good Lady G-, to account to you for her terrors, and for mine too" (Sir Charles Grandison, 1824).

 

[neb090]

Hi, dunchee

My English textbook says in the sentence "He lay still", "lay" is an "incomplete intransitive verb" because it need a "subjective complement" to modify the subject, and the adjective "still" is a subjective complement to modify He.

What do you think?

 

[Tarheel]

Hi, dunchee

My English textbook says in the sentence "He lay still", "lay" is an "incomplete intransitive verb" because it needS a "subjective complement" to modify the subject, and the adjective "still" is a subjective complement to modify He.

What do you think?

I think you need to work on more basic stuff before you get into exploring grammar arcana.

 

[dunchee]

Hi, dunchee

My English textbook says in the sentence "He lay still", "lay" is an "incomplete intransitive verb" because it need a "subjective complement" to modify the subject, and the adjective "still" is a subjective complement to modify He.

What do you think?

Who am I to argue with your textbook? But yes, that's what my dictionary(*1) says too.

(*1) Win Shin(文馨)

 

[neb090]

Who am I to argue with your textbook? But yes, that's what my dictionary(*1) says too.

(*1) Win Shin(文馨)

So if I say “He lay there”, the “lay” is a complete intransitive verb； if I say “He lay still”, then “lay” is an incomplete intransitive verb.

Is that right？

 

[dunchee]

It'll be a lot easier if you get a copy of that dictionary. I typed it in Chinese for a reason. If you want to save money, you can always find one at a library and copy its front section about verbs. It's only a few pages.