Study the following examples:
- Yesterday I was late, and my employer, with all of the staff members, was too.
- Last Sunday Jim and I played badminton. We began at 10:00 and finished at 11:00.
The pattern of the simple past tense of be as a full verb: I / he / the staff member / etc. was + subjective complement. we / they / the staff members / etc. were + subjective complement; and apart from the full verb be: I / we / he / etc. played / began .... ( play - played - played) / (begin - began - begun) / etc.
The above full verb be (am / is / are) is verb 1; was / were, verb 2; and been, verb 3.
The regular verb play is verb 1; played, verb 2; played, verb 3.
The irregular verb begin is verb 1; began, verb 2; begun, verb 3.
Subjective complement consists of non-verbs, for example, busy with, interested in, absent from, present at (adjectives); here, out (adverbials of place); in danger, in trouble (prepositional phrases); in the head office, on the way here / home / to the branch office (adverbials of places or prepositional phrases); seventeen (number); I, you, he, she, we, they, it (pronouns); money (noun); a programmer, a systems analyst (noun phrases); making (gerund); and to fix, to improve (to-infinitives).
The above full verb be (am / is / are) is verb 1; was / were, verb 2; and been, verb 3.
The regular verb play is verb 1; played, verb 2; played, verb 3.
The irregular verb begin is verb 1; began, verb 2; begun, verb 3.
Subjective complement consists of non-verbs, for example, busy with, interested in, absent from, present at (adjectives); here, out (adverbials of place); in danger, in trouble (prepositional phrases); in the head office, on the way here / home / to the branch office (adverbials of places or prepositional phrases); seventeen (number); I, you, he, she, we, they, it (pronouns); money (noun); a programmer, a systems analyst (noun phrases); making (gerund); and to fix, to improve (to-infinitives).
In the simple sentence, we use verb 2 of the full verb be for the simple past tense in a positive, negative, or interrogative sentence; however, in the interrogative sentence containing a certain noun clause, we use verb 2. Apart from the full verb be, we do not use verb 2 for the simple past tense in a positive or interrogative sentence except in a positive sentence; however, in a positive sentence we change verb 2 into did for the short answer to a Yes / No question, for a certain adverbial clause of comparison, and for a certain compound sentence.
Examples:
A: Was John in the head office three days ago?
B: No, he wasn't.
A: Where was he then?
B: He was in the branch office.
A: Did you get to work on time this morning? (It isn't morning now; it's afternoon)
B: No, I didn't. I was fifteen minutes late.
A: Did your manager know (that) you got there late? ['(that) you got there late' is a noun clause]
B: No, he didn't. He came later than I did. ('than I did' is an adverbial clause of comparison)
Bill didn't go to work yesterday, and neither did I.