Hi, Is this sentence correct? Should I use "was or were" and why please? Say 'was'. There seems to be nothing hypothetical or unlikely about this. The speaker doesn't sound like he has serious doubts that the curtain was going to go up.
Tom Cruise arrived just in time, before the curtain was/were to go up.
Best wishes, Clive
i think that "was" is the right form to be used in this case because was represents the singular form of past tense and were the plural. The curtain is certainly singular.
Is this sentence correct? Should I use "was or were" and why please? Say 'was'. There seems to be nothing hypothetical or unlikely about this. The speaker doesn't sound like he has serious doubts that the curtain was going to go up.
Tom Cruise arrived just in time, before the curtain was
/wereto go up.Best wishes, Clive
You could use 'were' here, but it would be the subjunctive.
eg If it were to rain tomorrow, I would get wet. But it won't rain.
eg If the curtain were to fall down on the actors' heads, it would hurt them. But it won't fall.
Best wishes, Clive
Your sentence:
The speaker doesn't sound like he has serious doubts that the curtain was going to go up.
Is the word "that" after "doubts" optional like I think is here? If not, why? Thank you.
He has a gift (that - optional I think) his friend wanted.
use was. always use was for singular (curtain) and were for plural ( curtains)
while i am using the english grammar past tens continuse some clip problems
' was" were" some time i full confuise itself so, tell how can i solve the problem
give me here some example
my name anil my mail id: (Email removed)Email Removed" mce_href="mailto:Email Removed">
For example: Tom Cruise arrived just in time befoore the curtains were to go up.
If your noun curtains* is plural than use were if it is singular *curtain than use was.
Hope I helped