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There vs Were - What's the difference?

there | were |

In obsolete terms the difference between there and were

is that there is where, there where, in which place while were is a fine for slaying a man; weregild.

As nouns the difference between there and were

is that there is that place while were is man (human male), as in {{term|werewolf||man-wolf|lang=en}}.

As an adverb there

is in a place or location (stated, implied or otherwise indicated) at some distance from the speaker (compare here).

As an interjection there

is Used to offer encouragement or sympathy.

As a pronoun there

is Used as an expletive subject of {{term|be in its sense of “exist”, with the semantic, usually indefinite subject being postponed or (occasionally) implied.}.

As a verb were is

form of Second-person singular simple past tense indicative|be|lang=en.

there

English

Adverb

(-)
  • (location) In a place or location (stated, implied or otherwise indicated) at some distance from the speaker (compare here ).
  • * 1623 , , The Comedy of Errors , Act 5, Scene 1,
  • And in a dark and dankish vault at home / There left me and my man, both bound together;
  • * 1769 , , 2, viii,
  • The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
  • * 1667 , '', 1773, James Buchanan (editor), ''The First Six Books of Milton's Paradise Lost: Rendered into Grammatical Construction , page 381,
  • To veil the heav'n, tho' darkne?s there' might well / Seem twilight ' here .
  • (figuratively) In that matter, relation, etc.; at that point, stage, etc., regarded as a distinct place.
  • He did not stop there , but continued his speech.
    They patched up their differences, but matters did not end there .
  • * 1597 '', Act 3, Scene 3, 1836, ''The Works of Shakespeare , Isaac, Tuckey, and Co., page 825,
  • The law, that threaten’d death, becomes thy friend / And turns it to exile; there art thou happy.
  • (location) To or into that place; thither.
  • * , prologue:
  • A knight there was, and that a worthy man /
  • * 1623 , , Act 2, Scene 1,
  • And the rarest that e’er came there .
  • * 1690 , , paragraph 4:
  • So that wherever there is sense or perception, there some idea is actually produced, and present in the understanding.
  • * 1769 , , 28, vii,
  • There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:
  • (obsolete) Where, there where, in which place.
  • * , The Summoners's Prologue and Tale]'', in ''[[w:The Canterbury Tales, The Canterbury Tales] ,
  • And spende hir good ther it is resonable;
  • *:: Note : Modern editions commonly render this instance of ther'' as ''where .
  • In existence or in this world; see pronoun section below .
  • * 1928 January, Captain Ferdinand Tuohy, "Why Don't We Fly?", in Popular Science , page 144:
  • These firms do not want the truth to get out and are financing these flights in the hope of dazzling the public. Yet the record of the gas engine is there for all to see.

    Usage notes

    * The use of there'' instead of they're (meaning ''they are ) is a common error in English writing. * (to or into that place) ** There'' is sometimes used by way of exclamation, calling attention to something, especially to something distant; as, There, there'''! See '''there'''! Look ' there ! ** There is often used as an expletive, and in this use, when it introduces a sentence or clause, the verb precedes its subject. ** There is much used in composition, and often has the sense of a pronoun. See thereabout, thereafter, therefrom, etc.

    Synonyms

    * (to or into that place) thither (archaic)

    Derived terms

    * * * * * * * * * * *

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • There, there. Everything is going to turn out all right.
  • There! That knot should hold.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • That place.
  • *
  • *
  • That status; that position.
  • You get it ready; I'll take it from there .

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • There are two apples on the table. [=Two apples are on the table.]
    There is no way to do it. [=No way to do it exists.]
    Is there an answer? [=Does an answer exist?]
    No, there isn't. [=No, one doesn't exist.]
  • * 1908', C. H. Bovill (lyrics), Jerome D. Kern (music), '''', song from the musical ''Fluffy Ruffles ,
  • It's very sad but all the same, / There ’s something rather odd about Augustus.
  • * 1909', ,
  • There was a time when I tried to change my position, which was not in harmony with my conscience; .
  • * 1918 , , Part 1, II,
  • There are intentional and unintentional towns.
  • If x is a positive number, then there''' exists ''[='''there is]'' a positive number y less than x.
    There remain several problems with this approach. [=Several problems remain with this approach.]
    Once upon a time, in a now-forgotten kingdom, there''' lived a woodsman with his wife.'' [=' There was a woodsman, who lived with his wife.]
    There''' arose a great wind out of the east.'' [=' There was now a great wind, arising in the east.]
  • * 1895 , Sabine Baring-Gould, : Nursery Songs, XXII: The Tree in the Wood,
  • All in a wood there grew a fine tree,
  • * 1897 , '': The Kentucky Home, in ''Four Great Americans ,
  • Not far from Hodgensville, in Kentucky, there once lived a man whose name was Thomas Lincoln.
  • * 1904 , Uriel Waldo Cutler, , Chapter XXXI: How Sir Launcelot Found the Holy Grail,
  • On a night, as he slept, there came a vision unto him, and a voice said, "Launcelot, arise up, and take thine armour, and enter into the first ship that thou shalt find."
  • There''' seems to be some difficulty with the papers.'' [=It seems that ' there is some difficulty with the papers.]
    I expected there''' to be a simpler solution.'' [=I expected that ' there would be a simpler solution.]
    There''' are beginning to be complications.'' [=It's beginning to be the case that ' there are complications.]
  • (in combination with certain prepositions, no longer productive) That.
  • there'''for, '''there'''at, ' there under
  • (colloquial)
  • Hi there , young fellow.

    Usage notes

    * In formal English, the verb agrees with the semantic subject: “there is a tree”, “there are some trees”, “there seems to be a mistake”, “there seem to be some mistakes”, and so on. This is because the "there [form of be]" construction originally used, and could still be said to use, "there" as simply an adverb modifying "to be". However, the syntax is archaic enough that "there" is rarely recognized as an adverb. In colloquial usage, therefore, the verb is often found in the third-person singular form, even when the semantic subject is plural — “there’s some trees”, “there seems to be some mistakes” — but this is often considered incorrect.

    See also

    *

    Statistics

    *

    were

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) .

    Verb

    (head)
  • .
  • John, you were the only person to see him.
  • .
  • We were about to leave.
  • .
  • Mary and John, you were right.
  • .
  • They were a fine group.
    They were to be the best of friends from that day on.
  • .
  • I wish that it were Sunday.
    I wish that I were with you.
  • :* with "if" omitted, put first in an "if" clause:
  • :*: Were''' it simply that she wore a hat, I would not be upset at all.'' (= '''''If''' it '''were simply... )
  • :*: Were''' father a king, we would have war.'' (= '''''If''' father '''were a king,... )
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=November 3 , author=David Ornstein , title=Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Maccabi would have been out of contention were it not for Stoke's profligacy, but their fortune eventually ran out as the visitors opened the scoring.}}
  • (Northern England) was.
  • Synonyms
    * (second-person singular past indicative, archaic'') wast (''used with "thou" ) * (second-person singular imperfect subjunctive, archaic'') wert (''used with "thou" )

    See also

    * am * are * is * art * be * being * been * beest * was * wast * wert

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) wer, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (wikipedia were) (en noun)
  • (archaic) man (human male), as in .
  • (obsolete) A fine for slaying a man; weregild.
  • * Bosworth
  • Every man was valued at a certain sum, which was called his were .
  • (fandom) The collective name for any kind of person that changes into another form under certain conditions, including the werewolf.
  • Statistics

    *