To Be Is the Strongest Verb from James W. Ziskin

This week’s question deals with the verb “to be.” Since we mostly write in the past tense, I’ve decided to concentrate on “was” and “were,” instead of the present “am,” “is,” and “are.”

Dickens opens A TALE OF TWO CITIES with this famous passage: 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hop...