Nancy: Imagine that next year, after a new president has been inaugurated, someone asks me, “Prior to inauguration day, who had been President?”
   
  Brad: They would not ask you that. They would say, “Prior to inauguration day, who was President?”
   
  Nancy: I would answer, “George Bush had been President.”
   
  Brad: You would answer, “George Bush was President.”
   
  The Rule: The past tense of "to be" is "was" (singular) or "were" (plural), not "had been". 

       
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