There was / There were
There was / There were adalah bentuk lampau dari There is / are, dan menyatakan keberadaan pada masa lampau, yaitu '(dulu) ada '.
Penjelasan
There was / There were adalah bentuk lampau dari There is / are, dan menyatakan keberadaan pada masa lampau, yaitu '(dulu) ada ~'. Kalau kata benda yang menyusul di belakangnya tunggal atau tidak dapat dihitung dipakai There was, kalau jamak dipakai There were.
A. There was vs There were — ikut kata bendanya
Sesudah There was datang kata benda tunggal atau kata benda yang tidak dapat dihitung, sedangkan sesudah There were datang kata benda jamak. Aturan kata kerja be ikut kata bendanya sama persis dengan bentuk kininya.
| Pola | Kata benda di belakang | Contoh |
|---|---|---|
| There was | Tunggal | There was a good movie last night. |
| There was | Tidak dapat dihitung | There was water on the floor. |
| There were | Jamak | There were five people in the room. |
| There were | Jamak | There were many mistakes in the report. |
- There was an accident on the highway. (Tadi ada kecelakaan di jalan tol.)
- There was snow everywhere yesterday. (Kemarin ada salju di mana-mana.)
- There were lots of tourists at the museum. (Waktu itu ada banyak wisatawan di museum.)
- There were several problems with the plan. (Dulu ada beberapa masalah pada rencana itu.)
B. Bersama ungkapan waktu lampau
There was / were sering digabung dengan kata keterangan waktu yang menunjuk titik waktu lampau tertentu untuk menyatakan bahwa sesuatu ada pada saat itu. Yang khas adalah yesterday, last night, last week, ~ ago, in + tahun, dan sebagainya.
| Ungkapan waktu | Contoh |
|---|---|
| yesterday | There was a fire yesterday. |
| last night | There were many guests last night. |
| last week | There was a big storm last week. |
| ~ ago | There was a war fifty years ago. |
| in + tahun | There were big changes in 2000. |
- There was a beautiful sunset yesterday evening. (Kemarin sore ada matahari terbenam yang indah.)
- There were lots of people at the market last Saturday. (Sabtu lalu ada banyak orang di pasar.)
- There was an earthquake two days ago. (Dua hari yang lalu ada gempa bumi.)
- There were big changes in the city in 1990. (Pada tahun 1990 ada perubahan besar di kota itu.)
C. Sering dipakai untuk kenangan·lukisan
There was / were terutama sering dipakai dalam cerita yang melukiskan atau mengenang adegan·keadaan masa lampau, dan dengan menambahkan ungkapan tempat·waktu di belakangnya terbentuklah lukisan yang utuh. Pola ini sangat berguna untuk membuka cerita atau menerangkan latarnya.
| Urutan kata | Contoh |
|---|---|
| There was + tunggal + tempat·waktu | There was a big tree in front of my house. |
| There were + jamak + tempat·waktu | There were many toys in her room. |
| Once upon a time, there was ~ | Once upon a time, there was a king. |
- There was a cozy little cafe on the corner. (Dulu ada kafe kecil yang nyaman di sudut jalan.)
- There were photos of us all over the wall. (Waktu itu ada foto kami di sepanjang dinding.)
- Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a castle. (Pada zaman dahulu ada seorang putri yang tinggal di sebuah kastel.)
- There was a strange sound coming from the basement. (Waktu itu ada suara aneh yang keluar dari ruang bawah tanah.)
Poin penting
- 1There was / There were adalah bentuk lampau dari There is / are, dan aturan menyesuaikan kata kerja be dengan kata benda di belakangnya sama dengan bentuk kininya — itulah dasarnya.
- 2Di depan kata benda yang tidak dapat dihitung selalu dipakai There was — kuasai aturan ini. (Contoh: There was water on the floor.)
- 3Pola ini sering dipakai bersama kata keterangan waktu lampau seperti yesterday, last night, dan ~ ago — ingat aturan kata penanda ini.
- 4Pola There was ~ / There were ~ sangat sering dipakai untuk membuka cerita atau melukiskan adegan masa lampau — kuasai rasa pemakaian ini.
- 5Once upon a time, there was ~ adalah ungkapan pembuka yang lazim dalam cerita zaman dahulu — ketahui juga hal ini.