Sit and rise have I’s–and lie does too.
“Coz these are things that I, all by myself, can do.
Set, raise, and lay are words that you choose
When each one has an object after it to use.
“Coz these are things that I, all by myself, can do.
Set, raise, and lay are words that you choose
When each one has an object after it to use.
I like to start with the simplest Wacky Word pair—sit and set. Then I like to move onto rise and raise. (And leave the “wackiest” pair, lie/lay, for the end.)
Remember these rise and raise tips:
- Rise has an I—and I alone can do it (it is not done TO something else).
- I rise around
- Yesterday I rose at dawn yesterday. (Not really!)
- Before that I had risen when the cat jumped on me.
- Rise means to come up to a higher position—anybody or anything can rise, as long as it does it by itself (i.e. it is NOT raised)
- She rose to greet us.
- The sun is rising late.
- Our grades have risen lately. (Technically, grades are raised by someone (“I raised my GPA”)—but if you do not state who raised them, they would be rising by themselves—which we know doesn’t really happen!)
- Raise does have an i—but not only an I like rise—raise is done to something.
- Raise must have an object following it—something that it is being raised.
- Raise your glass for a toast.
- He raised his children well.
- The children are raising their hands in class now.
Okay…the tenses for the two:
1. Rise
a. Base form: rise—Tomorrow I will rise early. (Remember—no object; early is an adverb here, not an object.
b. Past simple: rose—Yesterday I rose late.
b. Past participle: risen—They have risen to the task.
d. Third person singular: rises—The sun rises early now.
e. Present participle/gerund: rising—The sun was rising later in the day before.
2. Raise
- Base form: raise—Today I raise my voice in song. (Object—voice)
- Past simple: raised—Yesterday I raised the log and found a mole.
- Past participle: raised—Before I put the binoculars down, I raised them up and looked through them in the distance.
- Third person singular: raises—She always raises her voice when she is angry.
- Present participle/gerund: raising—I am raising the bar in that class!
Tomorrow is quiz day…so be ready! J
