Lesson Sixteen, Part II There was / There were The verb "be" is often used in the past tense with the word "there" | 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. | | Take a quiz here | 
