can you remind me this english rule

[gonghai]

can you remind me this english rule

when do i use are and were
i know that they are for people

is are used for thing and were used for people past???

[Casiopea]

Here are the paradigms:

Present
I am
you are
she is
he is
it is
they are

Examples
The books are here. They are here. (plural)
The people are here. They are here. (plural)
Mary is here. She is here. (singular)
The book is here. It is here. (singular)

Past
I was
you were
she was
he was
it was
they were

Examples
The books were here. They were here. (plural)
The people were here. They were here. (plural)
Mary was here. She was here. (singular)
The book was here. It was here. (singular)

[gonghai]

thanks you have helped me alot

now all i have to do is go back to my essay and fix the errors

[Casiopea]

You're welcome.