Class #9 - Past Tense of the verb to be

Vocabulary

BASEBALL GAME

PENNANTS

BALLPARK

GRANDPA / GRANDMA

MEETING

BIRTHDAY PARTY

Tommy: Hi, Jeff.

Jeff: Morning, Tommy.

Tommy: Jeff, can I ask you a question?

Jeff: Sure, Tommy.

Tommy: Were you at the ballgame last night?

Jeff: No, I wasn't. I was at the movies.

Tommy: Oh, I see. Was dad at my baseball game?

Jeff: No, he wasn't. He was at a meeting.,

Tommy: How about mom? Was she there?

Jeff: No, Tommy, she wasn't. She was at her computer class.

Tommy: How about Katie and Melissa? Were they at my game?

Jeff: No, they weren't. They were at Jennifer Anderson's birthday party.

Tommy: I can't believe it. Mom wasn't there, dad wasn't there, my sisters weren't there, my brother wasn't there... Nobody was at my ball game.

Jeff: That's not true Tommy.

Tommy: Huh?

Jeff: Somebody was at your ball game.

Tommy: Who?

Jeff: Grandma and Grandpa were there.

Tommy: They were?

Jeff: Yes, they were. 

And you know what they said? You were terrific.

Tommy: I was terrific?

Jeff: You were great!

Tommy: Yes!

Jeff: Hey, Tommy.

Sorry I wasn't there.

Tommy: That's ok. Next time.

Past Tense - Verb To Be

To Be - Affirmative

Subject	To Be	Examples
I	was	I was tired this morning.
You	were	You were very good.
He	was	He was the best in his class.
She	was	She was late for work.
It	was	It was a sunny day.
We	were	We were at home.
You	were	You were on holiday.
They	were	They were happy with their test results.

To Be - Negative Sentences

The negative of To Be can be made by adding not after the verb (was or were).

Subject	To Be	Examples
I	was not	I was not tired this morning.
You	were not	You were not crazy.
He	was not	He was not married.
She	was not	She was not famous.
It	was not	It was not hot yesterday.
We	were not	We were not invited.
You	were not	You were not at the party.
They	were not	They were not friends.

To Be - Negative Contractions

The can make negative contractions of the verb To Be in the Past tense by joining the verb (was or were) and n't (e.g. were not = weren't). We don't make a contraction of the subject and the verb (e.g. I was).

I was not tired this morning.	OR	I wasn't tired this morning.
You were not crazy.	OR	You weren't crazy.
He was not married.	OR	He wasn't married.
She was not famous.	OR	She wasn't famous.
It was not hot yesterday.	OR	It wasn't hot yesterday.
We were not invited.	OR	We weren't invited.
You were not at the party.	OR	You weren't at the party.
They were not friends.	OR	They weren't friends.

* Notice that we don't have contractions for To Be in Past Tense affirmative sentences.

To Be - Questions

To create questions with To Be, you put the Verb before the Subject.

Affirmative	You	were	happy.
	Subject	Verb
Question	Were	you	happy?
	Verb	Subject

Affirmative	Question
I was late	Was I late?
You were sick.	Were you sick?
He was surprised.	Was he surprised?
She was from Italy.	Was she from Italy?
It was a big house.	Was it a big house?
We were ready.	Were we ready?
You were early.	Were you early?
They were busy.	Were they busy?

To Be - Short Answers

In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions.

Was he from Japan? - Yes, he was (from Japan). The last part (from Japan) is not necessary. We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear.

Question	Short Answers**	Short Answers
Was I late?	Yes, you were.	No, you weren't.
Were you sick?	Yes, I was.	No, I wasn't.
Was he surprised?	Yes, he was.	No, he wasn't.
Was she from Italy?	Yes, she was.	No, she wasn't.
Was it a big house?	Yes, it was.	No, it wasn't.
Were we ready?	Yes, we were.	No, we weren't.
Were you early?	Yes, we were.	No, we weren't.
Were they busy?	Yes, they were.	No, they weren't.

** With To Be, We don't use contractions in affirmative short answers.

Somebody, Someone, Anybody, Anyone etc.

There is no real difference between somebody and someone. Similarly, there is no difference between anybody and anyone, everybody and everyone or nobody and no one.

Note that the forms with body are a little more informal.

There is somebody at the door. (= There is someone at the door.)
Is there anybody? (= Is there anyone?)

Some- and any-

The difference between somebody and anybody, somewhere and anywhere and something and anything are the same as the difference between some and any.

The words somebody, something, somewhere etc., are used in affirmative clauses, whereas the words anybody, anything, anywhere etc., are used in negative and interrogative sentences.

There is somebody at the door.
Did anyone come?
I don’t want to go anywhere too expensive.
If you need anything just tell me.

When these words are used as subjects they are followed by singular verbs.

Everybody loves her.
Everything is ready.

Note that somebody is normally used to refer to only one person. To refer to more than one person, we use some people.

Somebody wants to meet you.
Some people want to meet you.

To refer back to somebody, anybody etc., they, them and their are used with singular meanings.

Nobody came, did they? (Here the pronoun they refers back to nobody.)
Somebody left their umbrella in the office. (Here the pronoun their refers back to somebody.)