ESL Basic English Grammar Questions and Help

Re: was to come / did come / came

Janissary — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 18:12:44 GMT

thnx for all explanation , firstly.

as far as what i have understood from you , it means it is expected to do so.

but today i get confused with sth again that likes this.this is the sentence

"if we are to look behind the mere facts of behaviour for an explanation of this phonemenon."

why it is not in such a way " if we look behind the mere.. ......."

or " if we are going to look.."

or sth else. i cant find a common point with "was to do sth"

has it a relevance with expectations?

regards

Re: was to come / did come / came

CalifJim — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:40:42 GMT

That's right. It is similar, but not exactly the same as "was/were going to".

Often you can add the word "expected", "supposed", or "scheduled" like this:

Gertrude was to come.
= Gertrude was expected to come.
= Gertrude was supposed to come.
= Gertrude was scheduled to come.

(where the = indicates approximate equality, not exact equality.)

CJ

Re: was to come / did come / came

Janissary — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 10:11:19 GMT

hmm. so this is not the same thing as was/were going to do" ok understand thnx

Re: was to come / did come / came

CalifJim — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 07:29:20 GMT

If Gertrude was to come, it doesn't mean she came and it doesn't mean she didn't come. It means only that it had been arranged previously that she would come. We don't know what happened next until we read the rest of the story. Maybe she was to come, but she got sick at the last minute and did not come. Maybe she was to come, so everybody waited longer until she finally came, precisely because they knew she was to come.

CJ

Re: was to come / did come / came

Janissary — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 23:36:34 GMT

does it mean she didnt come.i mean is it precise. if it is so can we use she was going to come with us

Re: was to come / did come / came

nona the brit — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 22:18:34 GMT

Gertrude came with us means that it has already happened. Gertrude went somewhere with them.

Gertrude 'was to' come with us means that it has been arranged that Gertrude would go somewhere with them in the future. The emphasis though, is on the fact that they are taking Gertrude, and it suggests they are making arrangements/looking after her, rather than Gertrude just happening to be in their party.

was to come / did come / came

Janissary — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 21:26:56 GMT

gertrude was to come with us.

why the writer uses it in this way(it is in the book which i am reading now) . what is the difference "

gertrude was to come with us.

"gerturude came with us"