Improve your English in the Reading Rooms
Listen and write
Blue Level
Lesson Sixteen
Part II
There was / There were
Singular | Plural |
There was… | There were… |
To make the negative, add “not” to “was” or “were”
Singular | Plural |
There was not… | There were not… |
There wasn’t… | There weren’t… |
To make a question, put “was” or “were” before “there”
Singular | Plural |
Was there… ? | Were there… ? |
examples
There was a lightning storm last night. (In this sentence, “there” is used with the singular count noun, “storm.”) |  | |
There were many things to do and see at the amusement park. (In this sentence, “there” is used with the plural count noun, “things.”) There was also a lot of food there. (In this sentence, “there” is used with the noncount noun, “food.”) |  | |
There were a lot of students on this website last night. Were there a lot of students on this website last week?
|  |  |
 |  | |
 |  | |
There wasn’t any furniture in the apartment. It was almost empty. |  | |
There weren’t any people in the hotel room. It was empty. |  | |
A: Was there a lot of food at the party? B: Yes, there was. |  | |
A: Were there a lot of people at the meeting? B: No, there weren’t. A: How many people were there? B: There were only four people. |  | |