[Grammar] The ship has been laid on the seabed for more than 50 years

[kadioguy]

On Cambridge Dictionaries Online, it says:

lie verb
The ship has been lying on the seabed for more than 50 years.

If I rewrite it to 'The ship has been laid on the seabed for more than 50 years.', is this sentence grammatically correct and does it sound natural?

If not, could you please tell me why?

Thanks!

PS I also posted the same question in this, but all of your answers are unique to me. Thank you.

 

[Skrej]

I don't quite agree with the interpretation from the other forum. I agree it's possible but unnatural. To me it means somebody has repeatedly laid the ship on the seabed floor every year for the past 50+ years, or possibly that they have been in the process of laying it on the seabed for over 50 years.

The difference stems from the fact that 'lie' and 'lay' are used differently. 'Lay' (meaning to place or set something somewhere) requires an object. You have to lay something someplace.

'Lie' (meaning to recline) is intransitive and cannot have an object.


Thus, 'has been lying' means the ship has been resting on the seabed for the last 50 years, while 'has been laid' means that somebody has placed the ship on the seabed over the last 50 years (either repeatedly or in one long drawn out process).