Past with 'Going to'

For Intermediate learners

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.

Past with 'Going to' in English Grammar

What Is Past with 'Going to'?

We can use 'be going to' in the past tense to refer to something that was going to happen, but did not happen.

Structure

We can form this tense to express unfulfilled plans:

Be Going to Base form
I/She/He/It was going to go
We/You/They were going to exercise

How Can We Use 'Going to' to Talk about Past?

'Going to' is normally used to talk about the future, but we can also use it to talk about the past.

When we want to express plans that were planned but did not actually happen, we can use this structure.

I was going to see a movie.

He was going to come to the party.

When using this structure, you'd better tell why you did not do the intended plan.

I was going to see a movie, but I was too tired after work.

He was going to come to the party, but he forgot.

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