The phrase "able to lay their" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing someone's capability to place or position something, often in a metaphorical sense.
Example: "The team was able to lay their plans for the upcoming project during the meeting."
Alternatives: "capable of placing their" or "able to set their".
Big firms bought supplies for essential workers and those people who were able to lay their hands on a packet hid it at home.
Goaded by the quality of the public, dealers feel compelled to go to Maastricht with the finest works they were able to lay their hands on during the 12-month interval separating the Tefaf opening from the previous year's fair.
RJ Burgess Funeral Directors of West Yorkshire stated: "Families and individuals are embarrassed that they cannot meet the costs and become very upset and agitated, worrying how they will be able to lay their loved ones to rest.
Prosecutors in Palermo revealed recently that they have been able to lay their hands on bank accounts in Monte Carlo holding almost €21m ($25m) suspected to be the earnings of crime.
As rebels continue their search for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and his sons, so far without success, they have been able to lay their hands on more and more of the golf carts the deposed Libyan leader was fond of using to get around his sprawling compounds.
It added that some customers will, on receiving their renewal letter, dig out last year's documents in order to remind themselves how much they paid, but others will not get around to doing this or may not be able to lay their hands on the correspondence.
Much has rightly been written of the boy soldiers who were able to lie their way into serving and dying on the Western Front.
However, a McCain campaign advisor said that behind the scenes, aides and advisors to the campaign were not happy that the pranksters were able to lie their way up to Palin, or with the publicity Palin received because of the call.
However, thanks to international intervention, thousands of children have been able to lay down their weapons instead of their lives, as Africa's longest-running civil war continues – even amidst peace talks in the capital of Khartoum.
The film is nonsense, and what counts is whether viewers will feel able to lay aside their logical complaints and bask in what remains: a trip in search of a tan.
After two days of mulling over nightmare scenarios of sovereign debt default, overregulation and protectionism, those lucky few who managed to get into the Cameron talk Thursday evening were able to lay back with their 3-D glasses and take a trip to the planet Pandora.
