IS/ARE

“Is” and “are” are called helping verbs.  We use them to tell about things in the present tense or happening now.  We use “is” when noun is singular (one) and we use “are” when the noun is plural (more than one).

*The girl is eating lunch. (We are talking about 1 girl so we use “is”)

*The dogs are barking. (There is more than 1 dog because of the plural marker “s” so we know to use “are”)

WAS/WERE

The same rule applies to “was” and “were”.  We use “was” and “were” to tell about things that have happened in the past, or before now.  When the noun is singular (one) use “was”.  When the noun is plural (more than 1) use “were”. 

*Yesterday I was tired.

*Yesterday the children were tired.

REMEMBER:

IS = 1                ARE = 2 OR MORE

WAS = 1            WERE = 2 OR MORE

Fill in the blank with “IS” or “ARE”

1.  The apples _________ red.

2. The boy ______ good at soccer.

3. The flowers __________ blooming.

4. The dog _______ hungry.

5. The cars ________ going fast.

6. The chairs _______ broken.

7. The shirt ________ hanging in the closet.

8. My teacher ________ nice.

9. The group of girls ________ playing outside.

10. The boy ______ sick.

Fill in the blank with “WAS” or “WERE”

1.  This morning I ________ late for school.

2. The grocery store _________ crowded last night.

3. The brothers _________ playing football in the yard.

4. The table _________ dirty after breakfast.

5. The cats ________ black and white.

6. My mom ________ cooking dinner last night.

7. The trees __________ blowing in the wind.

8. I _______ happy when I lost my tooth.

9. My sister ___________ jumping on the trampoline yesterday.

10. Last year I ________ in first grade.

Around the House:  Go around the house and find single items (for example: one pencil, one cup, one chair, etc) and make up a sentence using the correct helping verb.Also find groups of items (for example: 2 forks, 3 bananas, 4 socks, etc) and make up a sentence about them using the correct helping verb.