text: when do you use the word "sit" and the word "set"?  also "lay" and lie"?  this has always stumped me!!   sit and lie and reflexive verbs. that means that you do it to yourself only. when you sit down you sit yourself down. you can't sit down for somebody else. when you lie down, it's always yourself you are lying down. you can't lie something else down.  by the same token, set and lay and transitive verbs. this is when the verb is an action taken(by the subject)on the object. you don't set yourself down, you sit down. anyone who thinks that a person can 'set' down is incorrect. lay is also a transitive verb. you can't lay yourself down. this is one that most people use incorrectly. lay is a transitive verb, meaning you can lay something else down, but not yourself. you lie yourself down.  when i hear people say 'i'm going to lay' i always think of a chicken, laying an egg.   does that help?