Alanna Madden
May 28, 2020
Grammar Tips
Was and were are past-tense forms of the verb ‘to be.’ Use ‘was’ for the first and third-person singular tenses (I, he, she, or it). Use ‘were’ for the second person singular or plural tenses (you, your, yours, we, they).
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The words “was” and “were” are past tense forms of the verb “to be,” a word English speakers use more often than they realize. Whenever we use the terms are, is, am, was, were, be being, or been–– we are using the verb ‘be’ (to be).
The verb ‘to be’ contains several forms because it’s an auxiliary verb, which means it assists or modifies another verb. Similar auxiliary verbs include do (did, does, doing) or have (had, has, having), and it’s common to see these verbs paired with ‘be,’ as well.
‘To be’ is also an irregular verb, so it doesn’t function the way other verbs do in the English Language. For instance, regular verbs contain past tense forms with the letter “d” or “-ed” at the end (e.g., answered, forced, hunted, etc.).
In the case of ‘to be,’ the irregular verb is broken down in the following eight tenses:
English speakers use the verb ‘to be’ to describe a variety of actions, but the overall meaning is to ‘exist’ or ‘occur’ as something in time and space. Let’s take a look at five general ways to define and write ‘to be’ in a sentence:
To be equal to something, the same, or to symbolize something. For example,
“Life is good.”
“If y is 20, let x be 16.”
To belong to a class or a category of something.
“That building is a local high school.”
“Learning is your job.”
“You are a student.”
To exist in reality, to live, or remain undisturbed.
“I was born.”
“I am alive.”
“Let me be.”
To occur or exist in a specific location.
“The coffee is on the table.”
“He is at the park.”
“They were in the car.”
“The event was on Monday.”
To say (informal).
“They were like, ‘you can’t do that.’”
“He was like, ‘no way!’”
Breathe, dwell, exist, happen, inhabit, live, occur, remain, reside, sit, stand, stay, subsist.
Cease, depart, die, discontinue, expire, halt, pass, perish, stop, succumb.
To write was and were in a sentence correctly, we must use them for the simple past tense and pay attention to narrative mood, perspective, and noun count.
The simple past tense is the only past tense form we use for were and was because “was” and “were” are the preterite forms of the verb ‘to be.’ There are two other past-tense verb forms, the present perfect and past perfect tenses, but they incorporate the verb’s past participle “been,” instead. For example,
Present perfect: have been, has been.
Past perfect: had been.
We use the simple past tense to describe past events in a historical manner. Sentences that use the simple past tense contain an adverb or adverb phrase that pertains to time (e.g., yesterday, on Monday, last month, etc.).
For the simple past tense, we use the verbs was and were in the following ways:
The simple past tense also contains two forms in itself: the progressive tense and the continuous form. The progressive verb tense describes longer, ongoing actions that progress in some fashion before a shorter, interruptive activity. The continuous tense indicates how an action proceeded without interruption or is ongoing.
All progressive tenses use “-ing” at the end of a verb. In fact, this verb tense typically uses the verb ‘to be’ in front of another verb’s infinitive form with “-ing.” For example,
“They were sleeping.”
“He was talking.”
For the past continuous or progressive forms, we use the verbs was or were in the following manner:
Do you recall how we used the past tense forms of “were” and “was” differently for I, she, we, or they pronouns? That’s because the verbs are affected by the narrative (i.e., the perspective of the storyteller).
The use of “was” and “were” depends on the narrative’s point of view. The first person perspective (I, we) uses “was,” while the second person perspective (you) uses “were.” The third-person perspective (she, he, it, they) only uses “were.”
The verbs “were” and “was” are additionally affected by the narrative’s mood (i.e., indicative vs. subjunctive). The indicative mood conveys ‘what is’ or ‘is not,’ but the subjunctive mood expresses a hypothetical situation or fantasized reality.
Subjunctive phrases often include “if I were …” or “if I was …,” but this mood has different grammar rules than the indicative mood “I was …” or “you were …” For the subjunctive mood, avoid using “was” and only use “were” instead.
Correct: “If I were a rich man.”
Incorrect: “If I was a rich man.”
Correct: “I wish I were taller.”
Incorrect: “I wish I was taller.”
Correct: “He was at the store.”
Incorrect: “He were at the store.”
Correct: “They were great last night.”
Incorrect: “They was great last night.”
Correct: “I was like, ‘no way!”
Incorrect: “I were like, ‘no way!”
Verb forms also depend on the number of nouns that they act upon. In other words, how many nouns involve the act of “being”? If there is one noun, the verb is singular, but if there are more than two nouns, the verb is plural.
“Was” is a singular verb form and “were” is a plural verb form. This is why we exercise narrative rules for each verb form. “They” or “we” implies multiple nouns (were), while “I” or “you” conveys one noun (was).
We know it seems as though there are a million rules for using was vs. were, but learning how to write the verb correctly becomes easier with practice. Using the grammar rules above, we can summarize the verb’s grammatical rules based on the indicative vs. subjunctive mood tenses:
Only use the verb was with the indicative mood and for the following verb forms:
Use the verb were for:
Simple past tense forms of was and were for the indicative mood:
For the subjunctive mood, use the verb were for:
Simple past tense forms of was and were for the subjunctive mood:
The verbs ‘was’ or ‘were’ do not indicate passive voice by themselves, but we construct passive sentences by pairing a conjugation of ‘to be’ with a past participle of a different verb. For example,
‘To be’ + the past participle of transitive verbs:
“He was found.”
“The child is being found.”
‘To be’ + the present participle in progressive tenses:
“She is sleeping.”
“I have been sleeping.”
‘To be’ + the past participle of certain intransitive verbs (for archaic perfect tenses):
“He is risen.”
‘To be’ + the infinitive and ‘to’ to convey a future arrangement or obligation:
“I am to tend to the garden.”
“She was to become a great gardener.”
It’s worth noting that while most people believe the passive voice is a grammatical error, the passive voice isn’t technically incorrect. Most grammarians simply prefer the active voice because it emphasizes the sentence subject instead of the object that receives a verb.
The present perfect tense connects the present to the past with an action that began in the past at an unspecified time. We can identify the present perfect tense through the use of “has been” or “have been.”
The past perfect tense describes completed actions that occurred before a different, past event. We can identify past perfect tense through the use of “had been.”
A homophone is a set of words that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings. The verbs ‘was’ and ‘were’ are not homophones because we pronounce them differently, they are spelled separately, and they share the same verb and meaning.
Think you’re ready to use the verb ‘be’ like a pro? Challenge your grammar know-how with the following multiple-choice questions for was vs. were.
Answers
