What is the part of speech of "were" in "The papers were on the table."?

In the sentence "The papers were on the table," the word "were" functions as a verb. Specifically, it is a form of the auxiliary verb "to be," which is used here to indicate a state of being or existence. In this context, "were" serves to connect the subject "the papers" to the prepositional phrase "on the table," expressing where the papers were located.

Verbs are essential as they convey action, condition, or occurrence, and in this case, "were" indicates that the papers existed in a specific location at a particular time. Understanding that "were" is in the past tense helps clarify its role as a verb, aiding in connecting subjects to their states or actions in past contexts.