I have a grammar question. Normally, we say
"It was you who WERE the burglar." or
"It was you who WAS always by my side."
But we also say
"I thought it was you who WERE late ."
"I thought it was you who WAS trying to tell me something is wrong."
I got confused there. How do we know when to use "it was you who WAS or WERE?" Please help me out and explain the rules! Many thanks in advance.
2007-03-16 09:10:24 · 4 answers · asked by Hi^_^~ 4 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Look, grammatically, WERE is correct because we use it with the second person (singular) and all persons in the plural
I was
You were
He/She/It was
We/You/They were
However, things change. The language is a 'living organism' - it evolves.What used to be wrong, ceases. For instance, in the past it was wrong to say "I will". Instead they used "I shall".
So, now both of the words (was/were) are acceptable.
I hope I've helped.
2007-03-16 10:02:19 · answer #1 · answered by amelie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It Was You Who
2017-01-09 10:00:36 · answer #2 · answered by heckel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it all relates to the pronoun being used:
I was
you (singular) were
he, she, it was
we were
you (plural) were
they were
2007-03-16 09:21:37 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
every one of your examples should be 'was'.
2007-03-16 09:13:57 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋