*Was going to

1 2

Share on Facebook

Klavier

#73479 Sat, 12 Feb 05 01:04 AM

Hello. What's the difference between was going to and was about to?

Klavier

Joined on Thu, Sep 23 2004

Chile

Full Member (362)

"If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants" Isaac Newton

Difference between

MrPedantic

#73487 Sat, 12 Feb 05 01:24 AM

Hello Latin

'Was going to' is used when you want to express a past intention:

1. 'I was going to go to bed half an hour ago, but I stayed online instead.'

'Was about to' is used when you want to suggest that you were on the point of doing something:

2. I was about to go to bed, when the phone rang.'

So 'about to' is just before the action; 'going to' is any time before.

MrP

MrPedantic

Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004

Veteran Member (12,136)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

Pemmican

#74351 Wed, 16 Feb 05 12:48 PM

Can I use "about to" with a gerund, too?

"I was about going to bed when the phone rang."?

Pemmican

Joined on Thu, Aug 21 2003

Westphalia, Germany

Regular Member (569)

Wâ mag ich mich nu vinden? wâ mac ich mich nu suochen, wâ? nu bin ich hie und bin ouch dâ und enbin doch weder dâ noch hie. wer wart ouch sus verirret ie?wer wart ie sus...

Gerunds

MrPedantic

#74365 Wed, 16 Feb 05 01:37 PM

Hello Pemmican

Now you mention it, I have seen 'about + gerund' (can't remember where).

I don't hear it in BrE, so I wonder whether it's AmE, or historical.

Maybe someone else will know.

MrP

MrPedantic

Gerunds

Mister Micawber

#74386 Wed, 16 Feb 05 03:06 PM

'To be about to' + gerund does not work for me: the 'to' here always introduces an infinitive-- as you say. MrP, to be on the verge of doing something:

I am on the verge of retiring = I am about to retire.

('About + gerund' of course works in other situations: 'the book is about exploring Africa'.)

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (22,245)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

Gerunds

MrPedantic

#74400 Wed, 16 Feb 05 04:43 PM

This may be an example of 'about + gerund' - it's from a website with Civil War correspondence:

'One day I was about going into the Castle; a sentinel was about shooting a prisoner at a window for a violation of the rules when Captain Alexander interfered, ordered him to desist-not to shoot...'

http://www.mdgorman.com/Written%20Accounts/OR/or_ser_ii_vol_v_p_905.htm

It looks like an equivalent of 'about to + infinitive'.

?

MrP

MrPedantic

Gerunds

Pemmican

#74451 Wed, 16 Feb 05 09:30 PM

Hmm... interesting.
Actually, "about + ger" does not really sound wrong to my ears, maybe it can be used with either the gerund or the infinitive?!

Pemmican

Gerunds

Mister Micawber

#74460 Wed, 16 Feb 05 10:27 PM

Hoo-ee, MrP-- historical, indeed. I cannot deny that you found an instance, and one from a military officer, but it reads to me as marginally literate from this perspective. It has a modern equivalent, which is also very colloquial, and not to be used in formal English:

'Man, what is your girlfriend about, anyway?'
'Aw, she's about nothing but shopping 'n' drinking coffee with her friends.'

Use it at your peril, Pemmican.

Mister Micawber

MrPedantic

#74466 Wed, 16 Feb 05 10:45 PM

I think, yes, it must be 'historical', historico-fictive, or at best doggedly rural.

Merriam-Webster has 'about starved' ~ 'almost starved', which also sounds odd to me; though if someone told me it was an AmE/rural BrE idiom, I wouldn't be surprised.

So perhaps 'about + gerund' once = 'on the point of + gerund'.

But I too would put a 'perilous' sticker on it, Pemmican!

MrP

MrPedantic

Gerunds, Idioms

1 2