Year 6 · SPaG · Autumn: Verbs and tenses
Year 6 was and were in Standard English worksheet and PowerPoint
To use was and were correctly in Standard English so that the verb agrees with the subject.
Was and were
In Standard English the verb must agree with the subject. Use was with I, he, she, it and a single thing. Use were with we, you, they and with more than one thing.
| was | I was, he was, she was, it was, the dog was |
|---|---|
| were | we were, you were, they were, the dogs were, Tom and Mia were |
| careful | You always takes were. After there, look at what comes next: there was a spider, there were three spiders. |
Examples
- The children were laughing.
- There was a spider in the bath.
Key words
- Standard English
- the form of English used in formal writing and teaching
- agree
- match: a singular subject takes a singular verb
- singular
- one person or thing
- plural
- more than one
What is on the worksheet
Every sheet for this lesson has a short teaching box and 12 questions that get gradually harder: 8 fluency questions, then 4 reasoning questions that ask pupils to explain or choose. A writing challenge follows. The questions use the same styles as the key stage 2 grammar and punctuation test (circle, underline, tick, fill the gap, add punctuation, rewrite, explain). They are written for this website, not copied from past papers.
All the answers are on the last page of the same editable Word file. New questions are made every time, so you can print a different sheet for every group or for homework. The same sheet code always gives the same sheet.
Writing challenge: Write ten sentences about a day at the seaside. Use was five times and were five times, and underline each subject.
Pupil target: I can use was and were correctly.
The PowerPoint
A 20-slide lesson deck for the same lesson: a starter that revisits earlier learning, key words, an I do and a You do question on each slide with a countdown timer, answers that appear one click at a time, and a challenge. Download the was and were in Standard English PowerPoint.
Where this lesson fits
This is lesson 18 of 72 in the Year 6 SPaG scheme, in the Autumn term, block “Verbs and tenses”. It is taught before the SATs grammar test in May.
Other lessons in this block
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