Past with 'Going to'
There are times that we are narrating a story and we want to talk about past plans that did not happen. In this case, we use past with going to.
What Is Past with 'Going to'?
It is typically more common to use 'be + going to' to talk about the future in the English language, but it is also one of the ways to talk about the past. It is better to say, using 'be going to' is one of the ways to talk about what you intended to do in the past.
Structure
The sentence pattern using 'be going to' for past tense is:
subject + was/were + going to + infinitive verb
Tip!
Usually, you use be going to to refer to a plan or prediction that did not happen.
Note that when you are talking about the event that did not happen, you usually mention the reason. For example:
I
I
Using 'Going to' to Talk about Plans in the Past
Be Going to: Uses
'Be going to' is commonly used in informal situations to talk about plans. It has different uses:
- Predictions
- Plans and Arrangements
Predictions
We use be going to in the past tense to refer to events that we expected or predicted to happen at some point in the past. Here are the examples:
He
The speaker in this example means he did not study, but he had planned to.
We
The speakers in this example mean they did not leave, but they had intended to.
Plans and Arrangements
We can use 'be going to' in the past tense to talk about what we planned to be done in the past, but mostly they did not happen. Check out the examples!
She
I
Review
'Be going to' can be used to talk about events that were supposed to happen. However, you cannot decide whether they happened or not unless there is background information.
'Be going to' is used to express past:
- Predictions and expectations
- Plans and arrangements
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