Grammer: Im not sure where to to Use Was and where to use Were.?

Question

Could someone teach me where to use Was and where to use Were?

...every corner of the streets was piled with dead bodies beyond imagination
or
...every corner of the streets were piled with dead bodies beyond imagination.

Answer 1

It's the first one, because you're not talking about the streets, you're talking about every corner of them - so it's singular, and therefore, 'was'

If it were,
"all the corners of the streets" then it would be 'were'
so: "all the corners of the streets were piled with dead bodies beyond imagination"
and "every corner of the streets was piled with dead bodies beyond imagination."

Answer 2

Was and were are singular and plural conjugations of the same verb. The root of the verb I am unsure of, as I am merely a student, and not a professor of the English language. Still, I can tell you that 'was' would be used when the subject is singular, and 'were' would be used when the subject is plural. In your example it would be" every corner of the streets was piled with dead bodies beyond imagination". The subject 'corner' is singular, thus you would use was. That is a misleading sentence because you might want to think that the subject is actually 'streets', but 'streets' is actually an object of the preposition 'of'. Well I am sure that is too much, but just remember: was-singular, were-plural, and you should be fine. Good luck with that.

Answer 3

"Was" is for singular subjects, "were" is for plural. In this case, the correct sentence should be "All corners of the streets were piled with dead bodies beyond imagination."

Answer 4

every corner of the streets were piled with dead bodies beyond imagination
I was we were single is was more than 1 is were

Answer 5

Okay...first: g-r-a-m-m-a-r. Secondly, "of the streets" is a prepositional phrase, "every corner" is your subject, therefore you need to use the singular (as a couple of other answers told you) which will be "was". "Every corner" is a collective noun. If you were to say "all corners" then you would use "were". If you use the trick of pulling out the prepositional phrase first in order to identify the subject you will have an easier time choosing your words.
I would recommend investing in an english grammar book, our english language does have quite a few tricky quirks!

Answer 6

When you're having problems with sentences like these, it's easiest to take out the preposition between the the noun and verb. So take out "of the streets" and use which one sounds best...

ever corner was piled with dead bodies....

Then put the preposition back in, and its the same, because the noun you're referring to is "corner" which is singular.

Answer 7

were is used in a plural state. in your case, it should be every corner of the streets WERE piled.... this is because streets is the main noun- corner just describes the noun or streets. because streets is plural, then were should be used.

just to clarify on the other answers above, was does not work, because the sentence is talking about several corners- it may sound like its just one corner, but because there are several streets, it makes the corner plural.

btw, i like your name

Answer 8

Your verb (was, were) should always agree with your subject.

Was - singular

Were - plural

In your example: "every corner of the streets" - "every corner" is the subject and it is singular; therefore use "was"

If you remove "every corner of" , what's left is "the streets" - that's the subject now and that's plural; so you use "were".

Okay?

Answer 9

Every corner of the streets WAS.... it's like many things in English, get rid of the added part, and you'll see the answer... (of the streets) is a prepositional phrase, take it out... Every corner were? no, and it's more obvious... the subject is corner, singular, so you use was, not were. Every corner of the streets was... but, more correctly, use "All the corners of the streets WERE", because then the subject, corners, is plural and it matches the prepositional phrase...Also, with when to use I or me... Joe and I were going downtown...
get rid of Joe... I was going... it's right... Joe and me were going.. Me was going? no... Jane was going downtown with Joe and I... get rid of Joe again... Jane was gaoing with I? no.. Jane was going with me, so Jane was going downtown with Joe and me -- not I.... there ya go.

Answer 10

Think of it this way:
WAS - singular noun - The dog was sleeping.
WERE - pleural noun - The dogs were sleeping.
In your sentence, every corner of the streets should be: all corners of the streets were...(plural) OR every corner of the street was...(singular).