was + past participle – English Grammar Profiler
Here’s a past simple passive example:
“The church was built in 1663.” is an example of A2 passive grammar.
In the English Grammar Profile, point 1 in the category of PASSIVE is:
past simple affirmative after a singular subject.
A search for was _vvn on iWeb corpus:
1 WAS BORN 459313 2 WAS MADE 320241 3 WAS FOUND 227491 4 WAS USED 220146 5 WAS TAKEN 201657 6 WAS GIVEN 201398 7 WAS TOLD 190761 8 WAS CREATED 188155
9 WAS NAMED 179527
10 WAS BUILT 178929
further A2 collocates in the top 10 most frequent include:
bridge building castle century church
hall
11 WAS RELEASED 164739 12 WAS DESIGNED 157432 13 WAS FOUNDED 136508 14 WAS CALLED 119610 15 WAS ARRESTED 115568 16 WAS ESTABLISHED 115512 17 WAS WRITTEN 111338 18 WAS HELD 108972 19 WAS SET 103593 20 WAS SENT 100448 21 WAS KILLED 97076 22 WAS INTRODUCED 96467 23 WAS PUBLISHED 94491 24 WAS DEVELOPED 93073 25 WAS ASKED 92052 26 WAS LEFT 85308 27 WAS AWARDED 85289 28 WAS SHOT 83961 29 WAS PUT 79262 30 WAS KNOWN 78211 31 WAS FORCED 77875 32 WAS APPOINTED 75379 33 WAS BASED 73816 34 WAS BROUGHT 73063 35 WAS ANNOUNCED 68435 36 WAS DIAGNOSED 68427 37 WAS SEEN 66930 38 WAS COMPLETED 64647 39 WAS DISCOVERED 63447
40 WAS CONSIDERED 63398
It was considered proof of the truth of this radical new idea, and it was written up in many newspapers around the globe.
TED
41 WAS ADDED 63058 42 WAS REPORTED 60316 43 WAS ELECTED 59983 44 WAS SELECTED 59634 45 WAS SAID 59633 46 WAS LAUNCHED 59383 47 WAS CHARGED 58989 48 WAS FORMED 58650 49 WAS RAISED 56817 50 WAS PLACED 56553 51 WAS INSPIRED 55144 52 WAS SOLD 52207 53 WAS GONE 50105 54 WAS REMOVED 47940 55 WAS CONDUCTED 47480 56 WAS PRESENTED 46834 57 WAS CHOSEN 46197 58 WAS DETERMINED 45145 59 WAS SENTENCED 43571 60 WAS MEANT 43179 61 WAS FOLLOWED 42411 62 WAS INTENDED 41067 63 WAS ISSUED 40993 64 WAS EXPECTED 40616 65 WAS POSTED 40525 66 WAS REPLACED 40230 67 WAS NEEDED 40137 68 WAS LOST 39530 69 WAS REQUIRED 39370 70 WAS SHOWN 38969 71 WAS RECORDED 38181 72 WAS OFFERED 37260 73 WAS CONVICTED 37184 74 WAS HIT 36608 75 WAS CHANGED 36381 76 WAS CARRIED 36235 77 WAS CAUGHT 36167 78 WAS PASSED 36122 79 WAS PRODUCED 35901 80 WAS CLOSED 35522 81 WAS PROVIDED 35504 82 WAS STARTED 35502
83 WAS LOCATED 35214
Miraculously, a copy of the complaint was located at the last minute, and we got it to court on time.
listen
84 WAS SIGNED 35206 85 WAS REVEALED 34986 86 WAS CUT 34671 87 WAS GRANTED 34359 88 WAS ALLOWED 34223 89 WAS OPENED 33113 90 WAS APPROVED 33029 91 WAS STRUCK 32874 92 WAS IMPRESSED 32801 93 WAS FILLED 32411 94 WAS PURCHASED 31826 95 WAS PERFORMED 31666 96 WAS DELIVERED 31623 97 WAS INSTALLED 31221 98 WAS INVITED 31045 99 WAS HIRED 30929
100 WAS BROKEN 30769
I’m not sure where EGP places ‘plural subjects’:
A number of buildings in the vicinity of the fire were damaged.
EVP example