— Hello, boys and girls! My name is Kyle. And this is Sophia.
— Hello, friends! I’m Melanie. And this is Jackson.
— Welcome to our lesson!
— Today we have a guest.
— It’s Mr. White.
— He is our postman!
— Hello, Mr. White!
— Hello, boys and girls!
— Mr. White brought us a letter.
— It’s from Freddie.
— Who is Freddie?
— Oh, I don’t know!
— Guys, I think we should read the letter! If we do that, we will find out who Freddie is.
— Oh, that’s a brilliant idea!
— Thank you for the letter, Mr. White.
— You’re welcome! Bye, boys and girls!
— Bye, Mr. White.
— All right, everyone! Let’s start reading the letter.
“Hello, Kyle, Sophia, Melanie and Jackson!
My name is Freddie. I’m writing you, because I need your help. My friend Jenny said that you are very kind people. So she advised me to write you a letter and ask for help. Guys, I will have a final test in two days. And I know almost all the rules to pass the test. But I know nothing about the verb “to be” in the Past Simple Tense. Could you explain this rule to me, please? If you don’t do that, I will fail the test. I really count on you. Can’t wait to get your response letter. Many thanks, in advance, for your help!
Best wishes,
Freddie”
— Guys, we have to help Freddie!
— Yeah, I agree!
— Let’s write the response letter and invite Freddie to our place.
— Oh, that’s a wonderful idea!
— Let’s do that!
“Hello, Freddie!
We’ve got your letter. And we will help you with a great pleasure! Come to our place tomorrow. The address is 27 Baker Street. We will tell you everything you need to know about the verb “to be” in the Past Simple Tense.
Best wishes,
Kyle, Sophia, Melanie and Jackson”
So, today in the lesson we will:
● talk about the verb “to be” in the Past Simple Tense;
● learn how to form sentences with this verb;
And
● put the knowledge into practice.
— Hello, Freddie!
— Hello, everyone! I’m so happy to meet you!
— We are happy to meet you too!
— Freddie, are you ready to listen?
— Yes, of course!
— Great! In this case, let’s start our lesson.
First, let’s talk about the verb “to be”.
It’s translated as “есть, являться, быть, находиться”.
The verb “to be” has two forms in the Past Simple Tense:
Was
And
Were.
Now let’s answer the question:
How do we form sentences with the verbs “was” and “were”?
To form positive sentences, we put the subject in the first place. For example:
I
He
She
It
You
We
They
After that we need to put the verb “was” if we use the pronouns: I, he, she, it. And we need to put the verb “were” if we use the pronouns: you, we, they.
For example:
Jessica was at the beach last weekend.
Or
Kate and Mike were in the garden yesterday.
To form negative sentences, we put the subject in the first place. For example:
I
He
She
It
You
We
They
Then we need to use the word “was” or “were”. After that we put the particle “not”. The short forms are: “wasn’t” and “weren’t”.
Look at the examples:
It wasn’t sunny and hot yesterday.
Or
Owen and Julia weren’t in the football team last year.
To form questions, we need to put the word “was” or “were” in the first place. After that we put the subject. For example:
I
He
She
It
You
We
They
For instance:
Was Charles in the library at 8 o’clock yesterday?
Or
Were Millie and Rosie at home last night?
To give short answers to the questions we can use one of the following two constructions:
The first construction is…
In the first place we put the word “yes”. Then we use the personal pronoun. After that we put the word “was” or “were”.
And the second construction is…
In the first place we put the word “no”. Then we use the personal pronoun. After that we put the word “was” or “were” with the particle “not”.
— Freddie, we’ve talked about the verb “to be” in the Past Simple Tense.
— We’ve also discussed how to form positive sentences, negative sentences and questions with this verb.
— Yes, that’s right, guys!
— Now we would like to check your knowledge if you don’t mind.
— Oh, okay! No problem!
Look at the pictures and complete the sentences. Use the word “was” or “were”!
The pictures are…
And the sentences are:
The film … so boring that my parents fell asleep.
My dad and I … hungry so we cooked the soup.
Check yourselves!
The right answers are:
Was
Were
Let’s continue!
The following pictures are…
And the sentences are:
Ryan and Gracie … exhausted after a long run.
It … really cold and snowy last Saturday.
Let’s check!
The right answers are:
Were
Was
Let’s continue!
The last pictures are…
And the sentences are:
Harrison … at the museum last Wednesday.
Maddison and Daniele … in London last summer.
Check yourselves!
The right answers are:
Was
Were
Now…
Put the words in the correct order to make sentences!
Check yourselves!
The right answers are:
My grandparents were at home yesterday.
Were they at the concert last night?
Ronnie’s dog was not under the table.
Mary and Peter were not busy last Friday.
The weather was freezing two days ago.
Was Bella at the supermarket last week?
Christopher was not at school yesterday.
Robert and Stan were not Teddy’s friends.
Now…
Match the questions with the right short answers!
The questions are:
Were Lily and Megan at the zoo last Sunday?
Was the hamster in the cage yesterday?
Was Veronica sleepy yesterday?
Were John and I at the cinema last week?
Was the weather cloudy last weekend?
Was Mason ill two days ago?
And the answers are…
Check yourselves!
The right answers are:
No, they weren’t.
Yes, it was.
Yes, she was.
Yes, we were.
No, it wasn’t.
No, he wasn’t.
— Well done, Freddie!
— Now you know everything about the verb “to be” in the Past Simple Tense.
— Yes, that’s right! Thank you so much for your help!
— You’re welcome!
— That’s all for today, our dear friends.
— We hope that the lesson was interesting and useful for you!
— See you soon, boys and girls.