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How to Use Were in Negative Sentences About the State

We can use ‘were’ in negative sentences to describe the past state of being.

In the previous lesson, we learned how to use were to describe the past state. In this lesson, we shall learn how to use were in a negative sentence to describe the past state of being.

Let’s see how to use ‘were’ in a negative sentence.

Use of Were in Negative Sentences About the Past State

You know that the verb ‘were’ is used with the pronouns ‘we’, ‘you’, ‘they’, and any plural subject. In the lesson Use of were to tell about the past state, we used ‘were’ in affirmative sentences.

In this lesson, we will use ‘were’ in negative sentences to describe the past state of being. But first, we shall see how to form these sentences.

Formation of a sentence

Let’s see how to use ‘were’ in a negative sentence.

In this sentence, we should use ‘not’ with ‘were’; that is, ‘were not’.

The formation of this sentence is as follows:

  • Subject (we/you/they/plural noun) + were not + other words + full stop (.)

Examples with ‘were’ in negative sentences:

Let’s see how to use ‘were’ in the sentences with some examples.

We use ‘were not’ to talk about the past state.

Here are some examples. The formation is as above.

Have a look-

  1. We were not students.
  2. You were not a student.
  3. You were not the students.
  4. They were not students.
  5. His sisters were not very sad.
  6. The boys were not pleased.
  7. They were not creative.
  8. You were not tired.
  9. We were not tired.
  10. They were not happy.
  11. Her siblings were not happy.
  12. They were not surprised.
  13. We were not a family. 
  14. We were not extremely sorry.
  15. They were not liars.
  16. The girls were not beautiful.
  17. We were not thirsty.
  18. The students were not well dressed.
  19. We were not hungry.
  20. You were not ten years old.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  21. They were not on time.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  22. You were not wrong.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  23. They were not joyful.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  24. They were not superstitious.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  25. We were not innocent.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  26. You were not smart.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  27. They were not rude.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  28. They were not frightened.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  29. We were not polite.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429
  30. All the servants were not loyal.
    An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 429

Also, go over the lessons below:

  1. Use of were to tell about the state of being
  2.                             questions
  3.                           affirmative answers
  4. Use of ‘were’:profession
  5. use of ‘were’ in negative sentences

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Hi, I am Madhuri Kherde, an educator, ex-principal of a secondary school in Mumbai, and founder of EnglishLamp.com. I have been teaching English and mathematics for the last thirty-seven years. I like to share my knowledge and experience with others. So I hope you enjoy my posts on this website.