Was / were

Very quick one, please.

Which is correct:

There were four of us, in all

There was four of us, in all

??

If you can offer a quick and concise explanation it would be helpful, although just the answer will suffice.

 

Were. Four is plural. Us is also plural, but it's subordinate behind a prepositional clause.

There were four of us to start. Three died. There was only one of us left.

 

Thanks, Wreybies. I had gone with 'were', but couldn't trust my instinct.

 

This question relates to subject and verb agreement, was/were and four. When a sentence begins with there or here, the actual subject is considered to be the word or words following the verb. Use a singular verb if the actual subject is singular and a plural verb if the actual subject is plural.

 

Rephrasing sentences like those often reveals the answer intuitively:

In all, four of us were there.
In all, four of us was there.

 

Confusion arises because of the way we tend to speak. So natural to say, If I were you, instead of, If I was you.

 

Indeed. I hear the former so much more than the latter - which begs the question why, when the latter is the correct one?

 

That's a different grammar rule again, apparently.

 

Confusion arises because of the way we tend to speak. So natural to say, If I were you, instead of, If I was you.

Second conditionals should really use I were, to make it clear you're using a hypothetical situation. Over the past few years I was has been used more, kind-of blurring the boundary between them.

Personally I prefer I were.

 

I think I'll quit trying to understand the English language. It's far too confusing.

 

Stick the word in a character's gob and you can break the rules, though it is a risk up top of piece.

My father were a Yorkshireman, had many strange dialectical quirks. Another, for example - English people eat 'egg and chips.' He would say 'chip and egg.' I inserted this phrase of his into a 'misery memoir' that were published, by the way - a while back, and the sub-editor corrected my voice. I were heart-broken. She changed it back when I squealed.

 

You do know that Robert Mugabe is a Yorkshireman?

Read his name backwards - 'E ba gum.

I'll get me coat.

 

I am no English expert but I thought the usage of were was driven by the "you" which is a plural reference with the ability to also refer to a single entity.

 

It simply happens that the past subjunctive of "be" has the same inflection as the past indicative plural of "be".