Existence in the past There was - There were

Hello dear students, We are going to study the verb to be in past. Let’s start; in the
past tense we use there was or there were to tak about existence. Use there was for
a singular noun or uncountable nouns and there were for plural nouns.

Examples:

- There was a party last night.

(a party = singular noun)
- There was food at the party.
(food = uncountable noun)
- There were problems with the delivery.
(problems = plural noun)

AFFIRMATIVE FORM
In affirmative sentences, we never use contractions with there was or
there were

Singular

There + Was + A book

Plural

There + Were + Some books

Examples:

- There was a storm last night.

- There was also a lot of rain there.
- There were many things to do and see at the amusement park.
- There were a lot of students online last week.

NEGATIVE FORM
We can use contractions in negative sentences

There + Verb to be + Not complement

Singular

There + Was + not A book

Plural

There + Were + not any books

Example:

- There wasn't a gas station near my house. Now there are four.
- There wasn't any furniture in the apartment. It was almost empty.
- There weren’t ten apples in the box. There were only three.
- There weren't any people in the hotel room.

INTERROGATIVE FORM
To make a question, just like the present simple, we change the position of “was”
or “were” and there.

Verb to be + There + Complement

Was + there + a book?

Were + there + Any books?

Short answers

Yes, there was No, there wasn’t

Yes, there were No, there weren´t

Examples:

- A: Was there a child at the party? B: Yes, there was.

- A: Was there good music at the party? B: No there wasn’t.
- A: Were there any laptops in the room? B: Yes, there were.
- A: Were there a lot of people in the room? B: No, there weren't.