00 / Other
There was / There were
Use 'there was' and 'there were' to talk about the existence of people or things in the past. These forms function as the past tense of 'there is' and 'there are'.
A1Beginner
01 / Overview
These structures indicate that something existed in a specific place or time. There was is used for singular nouns and uncountable nouns, while there were is used for plural nouns.
02 / Form
There + was/were (+ not) + noun
To form a negative sentence, add not after the verb. To form a question, move the verb to the beginning of the sentence.
03 / Singular vs. Plural
| Noun Type | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | There was a meeting. | There wasn't a meeting. |
| Plural | There were many people. | There weren't many people. |
| Uncountable | There was some water. | There wasn't any water. |
04 / Examples
05 / Common mistakes
There was two cars.
There were two cars.
Use 'were' because 'two cars' is plural.
They were a mistake in the report.
There was a mistake in the report.
Use 'there' to show existence; 'they' refers to specific people or objects mentioned before.
06 / Practice
Complete the sentence: There ____ a lot of noise last night.
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Answer: was
Why: 'Noise' is an uncountable noun in this context, so it requires the singular form 'was'.
Change to a question: There were many students in the class.
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Answer: Were there many students in the class?
Why: To form a question, swap the positions of 'there' and 'were'.
Complete the sentence: There ____ any apples in the kitchen.
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Answer: weren't
Why: 'Apples' is plural, and 'any' indicates a negative sentence is required.