The correct answers are the medieval knights, they, and the villagers.
The verb were is used with plural subjects and the pronouns we, you, and they. Singular subjects like "the king" or "the local blacksmith" would require the verb was.
Be
The verb be is the most irregular and most-used verb in English. It has eight forms — be, am, is, are, being, was, were, been — more than any other English verb. It works as both a main verb (linking a subject to a complement: She is a doctor) and an auxiliary (forming the progressive tenses I am working and the passive voice It was written).
Almost every sentence you'll ever speak or write uses some form of be. Master its irregular forms early — am/is/are/was/were/been — and the rest of English grammar gets dramatically easier.
Past tense
The past tense is how English talks about events finished before now. It comes in four flavours: simple past (I walked) for completed events, past progressive (I was walking) for actions ongoing at a past time, past perfect (I had walked) for events before another past event, and past perfect progressive (I had been walking) for ongoing events leading up to a past point.
Choosing the right one is what makes past narratives clear instead of murky. When I arrived, she ate dinner is technically grammatical but means something different than had eaten (already done) or was eating (in progress when you arrived).
Grammatical number
Grammatical number is the singular vs plural distinction marked on nouns, pronouns, and verbs. Most English nouns add -s or -es to form plurals (book → books, box → boxes), but a handful keep older patterns: child → children, foot → feet, mouse → mice, sheep → sheep. Pronouns swap forms entirely (I → we, he → they).
Number governs subject-verb agreement: He goes but They go. Mismatching subject and verb (The team are/is winning) is one of the most common slips in writing — and one that catches the attention of any careful reader.
A1 | Elementary | Beginners
A1 is the starting level of the CEFR framework — the entry point into English. At A1 you can introduce yourself, ask and answer simple personal questions, recognise common signs and instructions, and have short slow-paced conversations on very familiar topics.
Grammatically, A1 covers the building blocks: present-tense forms of be, have, and do; basic word order; simple questions; and the most common determiners, pronouns, and prepositions. Knowing your level matters — A1 material teaches the foundations every later level builds on, while a B1 textbook will overwhelm you. Start here and progress is fast.
Difficulty: Easy
The Easy difficulty tag marks questions and challenges aimed at beginners — typically A1 or early A2 level. Expect single-rule focus, short sentences, common everyday vocabulary, and one clear correct answer. Distractors usually rule themselves out quickly.
Filter by Easy when you're rebuilding fundamentals, warming up before harder material, or testing whether you've truly internalised a basic rule before moving on. Easy doesn't mean trivial — it means the rule itself is unambiguous and the context doesn't pile on extra complications.