Past Simple 1: Was/Were
- Was is the past of am and is.
He was a teacher.
Was I asleep?
Who was Neil Armstrong?
2. Were is the past of are.
They were famous for cooking and dancing.
Were you there?
Who were the Backstreet Boys?
3. Use wasn’t (was not) and weren’t (were not) for the negative.
This wasn’t true.
They weren’t robbers.
| Statement ✓ Negative ✖ |
| I/He/She /It was was not (wasn’t) |
| You/We/They were were not (weren’t) |
4. Make questions and short answers as follows:
| question? short answer ✓ ✖ |
| Was I / he / she / it a quiet one ? Yes, (he) was. No, (he) wasn’t. Were you / we / they happy? Yes, (they) were. No, (they) weren’t. |
| Who was he? Where were you? |
| was/were born Salvador Dali was born in 1904 and died in 1989.  |
Download “Simple Past Tense with was, were Explained Examples and Exercises PDF with Answers” here.
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