1. READ THE TEXT.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was the son of DomenicoColumbu and Susannah
Fontanarossa, he was the oldest son in his family. At an early age Columbus was
interested in navigation; his education was only to study geography, astronomy and
navigation. When he was in Lisbon, geographers and cosmographers were happy to
see him study.
Columbus was in touch with the sea since he was a child. In his trips, he was
in the same route Portuguese explorers were. His theory was that he could reach
Asia, going throughout the African coast, and he was financed by the king and the
queen of Spain to make his expedition. But he failed, because at the end of the trip
he was in Guanahani, an island in America. He arrived there on October 12, 1492,
sailing three ships, these ships were La Niña, La Pinta and La Santa Maria. Although
he was in a new continent, he died believing he was in the Indies and not in what it
was, for the European, a new world.
1 Answer these sentences with true or false.
1. Christopher Columbus was the son of DomenicoColumbu and Susannah
Fontanarossa.__________
2. he was the youngest in his family. __________
3. La Niña, La Pinta and La Santa Maria were his three ships. __________
4. He was in Guanahani on October 10, 1500. __________
5. He was in a new continent instead of the Indies. __________
2 Unscramble the following words.
1. was/ education / his / only / geography, astronomy and navigation. / to study
___________________________________________________________________
2. happy/ cosmographers / to see / him. / were
___________________________________________________________________
3. was / he / continent. / in / a / new
___________________________________________________________________

2. 4. he / Indies / world. / was / a / not / in / and / the / in / new
___________________________________________________________________
Read the words below and use them to form sentences.
he on was today last week house happy
we our were at school home big sad
my wasn’t father this bye last night clean
my today friends weren’t at teacher in class
was you it hot last night? her tired
were sick you home line last night? car
EXAMPLE: My friends were happy last night.

3. EXISTENCIAL IN PAST
there was there were
(describe the nouns do not exist now)
AFFIRMATIVE FORM (+) NEGATIVE FORM (-)
SINGULAR: There was a park. SINGULAR: There was not (wasn’t) a church.
PLURAL: There were many hotels. PLURAL: There were not (weren’t) many cars
INTERROGATIVE FORM (?)
SINGULAR: Was there a chuch?
PLURAL: were there many cars?
SHORT ANSWER SHORT ANSWER
AFFIRMATIVE FORM NEGATIVE FORM
there was there wasn’t
Yes, No,
there were there weren´t
EXERCISE ONE: Complete the following sentences choosing THERE WAS or THERE
WERE.
1. _________________ _______________ a car outside my house this afternoon.
2. _________________ _______________ six of my friends at the party.
3. _________________ _______________ a girl in the library last night.
4. ________________ _______________ four handsome boys at the 64 high school last
semester.
5. _________________ ________________ three bottles of water left on the table.
6. _________________ ________________ a soccer match on TV yesterday.

4. EXERCISE TWO: Complete choosing the correct form.
1. there wasn´t / there weren´t
_______________ ________________ a big garden in my father’s house, so ________________
_______________ any dogs.
2. there wasn´t / there weren’t
_______________ ______________ messages from my friends in Facebook last night.
3. there wasn’t / there weren’t
_______________ _____________ any good movies at the cinema last week.
4. there wasn’t / there weren’t
The beach was a lot of fun, but ______________ ______________ a pool at the hotel.
5. there was / there were
________________ _______________ 55 thousands people at Justin Bieber’s concert in Mexico
City
6. there was / there were
_____________ ______________ a ceremony in Teotihuacan on March 21.
EXERCISE: Match the two columns to make sentences.
1. There are a) a lot of noise in the cities at the present
time.
2. There is b) several robberies in Mexico City last
month.
3. There are c) too many cars in the streets nowdays.
4. There was d) an earthquake in Mexico seven days
ago.
5. There were e) many people in the world now.