Grammar › Past Simple with was and were

Was and were: positive sentences

450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten

Was for I, he, she and it. Were for you, we and they.

The pattern

Subject, then was or were, then the description. Nothing else is needed:

The room was empty.

Singular even when it looks plural

Some words end in -s but count as one thing and take was:

The news was good. Mathematics was my worst subject. Twenty euros was all I had.

The last one is worth noting: a sum of money or a measurement is treated as a single amount.

there was and there were

The verb looks forward, not back:

• There was a note on the table.
• There were notes on every table.

Used to and was

For a repeated past habit, English often prefers used to:

There used to be a bakery on this corner.

There was a bakery states a fact about one time. There used to be says it went on for a while and has stopped.

All forms

Examples

Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.

• The painting was beautiful and thought-provoking.
• The train tickets were cheaper on Tuesday.
• My favorite team was the champion last year.
• They were excited to go on their vacation.
• The street was crowded during rush hour.
• You were excited about the upcoming party.
• My uncle was a teacher before he retired.
• We were busy with our assignments last night.
• The computer was turned off when I left the office.
• The students were attentive in class yesterday.
• The party was lively and full of energy.
• They were tired after a long day of shopping.

Mistakes to avoid

Quick choices from this form

Other forms of Past Simple with was and were