WERE in a Sentence

Learn WERE from example sentences; some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

404 example sentences for WERE, such as:

1. She didn't know you were alive.
2. They were ordered to strike back.
3. They were a unit on the question.
4. They were fond of the sweet orphan.
5. Such were the lessons of my father.

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 Meanings and Examples of WERE
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
were
 v.  past tense second-person singular, past tense plural, and past subjunctive of BE
Classic Sentence: (202 in 14 pages)
1  The servants were gone to a neighbouring fair.
Frankenstein By Mary Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 15
2  Their colours and their forms, were then to him.
Frankenstein By Mary Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 18
3  If he were vanquished, I should be a free man.
Frankenstein By Mary Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 22
4  Such were the lessons of my father.
Frankenstein By Mary Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 22
5  What his feelings were whom I pursued I cannot know.
Frankenstein By Mary Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 24
6  They were fond of the sweet orphan.
Frankenstein By Mary Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 1
7  They were composed of oddly familiar pieces of ivory.
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 4
8  We were at a particularly tipsy table.
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 6
9  She didn't know you were alive.
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 7
10  They were, doubtless, good men, just and sage.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Context  Highlight   In III. THE RECOGNITION
11  That, surely, were a shallow view of it.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Context  Highlight   In X. THE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT
12  But they were uttered only within his imagination.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Context  Highlight   In XII. THE MINISTER'S VIGIL
13  I could wish the stairs were handsome.
Sense and Sensibility By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 6
14  Colonel Brandon's horses were announced.
Sense and Sensibility By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 13
15  They were soon within thirty yards of the gentleman.
Sense and Sensibility By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 16
Example Sentence: (202 in 14 pages)
16  The cars were snowed under by drifts.
17  His confessions were made under torture.
18  They were ordered to strike back.
19  They were a unit on the question.
20  They were told to shoot enemies upon sight.
21  They were digging up worms to use for bait.
22  You were explicitly instructed to wait here.
23  The boys were kicking an old ball around.
24  Letters were delivered twice a week only.
25  The children were playing with a ball.
26  The jewels were kept in a bank vault.
27  Staff were pilfering behind the bar.
28  We were all in the bar sipping cocktails.
29  Our fighter planes were readied for battle.
30  The pictures were in black and white.