Verbs and Tenses - Part 3 (Was and Were, The Past Progressive Tense and The Future Tense)

Was and Were 

The verbs was and were are also forms of the verb be. Was is the simple past tense of am and is. Use was with the pronouns I, he, she and it, and with singular nouns.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

Were is the simple past tense of are. Use were with the pronouns you, we and they, and with plural nouns.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

Here is a table to help you remember the rules:

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

Here's a table to showyou the different forms of the verb be:

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

Learn these contractions:

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

The Past Progressive Tense

Use the past progressive tense to talk about actions that were going on at a certain moment in the past.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

• Miss May was cleaning the chalkboard.
• Sally was packing her books into her schoolbag.
• Jenny and I were tidying the classroom.
• The twins were fighting in the corner.
• Michael and John were washing the paint brushes.
• Mom was cooking our supper when I came home.

You form the past progressive tense like this:

• was  + present participle
• were + present participle

In the examples above, was and were are called helping verbs, or auxiliary verbs. They help to form the past progressive tense when you join them to the present participle (the form of verbs ending in -ing). For example:

• Ben was doing his homework.
• Peter was making a model of a bridge.

Exercise 1

Fill in the blanks with was or were.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

Exercise 2 

When Miss May walked into the class what were the children doing? Fill in the blanks with the correct past progressive tense of the verbs in brackets.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

The Future Tense 

Use the future tense for things that have not happened yet, but are going to happen.
Use the verbs shall and will as helping verbs or auxiliary verbs to form the future tense.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

• We shall play a game of chess after lunch.
• You will be sick if you eat too much.
• I hope it won't rain tomorrow.
• Sharon is ill. She will not be at the party.
• You will enjoy visiting New Zealand.
• Dad will be back for dinner.
• He will make lots of friends at his new school.

* Use shall or will with I and we.

* Use will with you, he, she, it and they.

Here is a table to help you remember the rules:

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

Learn these contractions:

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

* To make the negative form, use will and shall with not. The contraction fro will not is won't.

• I will not help you until you help me first.
• It won't be very sunny again until next summer.
• You won't like this food. It's horrible!
• We shall not go to the party without you.

* You can also talk about plans for the future and other future happenings by using be going to and another verb. Remeber to:

• Use am and was with the pronoun I.
• Use is and was with the pronouns he, she and it, and with singular nouns like "my mom" and "the teacher".
• Use are and were with the pronouns we, you and they, and with plural nouns like "my friends" and "John and Sally".
• I am going to visit my cousin tomorrow.
• I am going to see the new Star Wars movie next week.
• My friend John is going to buy me a skateboard.
• Aunt Jane is going to have another baby soon.
• It is going to be windy tomorrow.
• I hope someone is going to fix the television soon.
• You are going to help me, aren't you?
• My friends are going to teach me how to play chess.
• Mom and Dad are going to buy a new computer.
• Your books are going to fall off the shelf if you're not careful.
• Are you going to read your book now?

There are other ways of talking about future actions and happenings.

You can use going to.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

You can also use the simple present tense to talk about things that have been arranged for the future.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

Exercise 1
Fill in the blanks with the correct future tense of the verbs in brackets, using shall or will.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

Exercise 2 
Complete these sentences by changing shall or will to the appropiate form of the verb be + going to (i.e., am, is, or are + going to).

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 1

Exercise 3

Decide whether shall and will are used correctly in each sentence. Put a checkmark (✔) in the box for a correct use and an (X) in the box for an incorrect use.

Retrieved from: Basic English Grammar - Book 2