The record was to be played on a Saturday morning to a group of sales people.

[Torsten]

Hi,

Could you please take a look at this sentence:

The record was to be played on a Saturday morning to a group of sales people.

As I understand it, it's not clear whether the record was actually played or not. The sentence only says that somebody planned to play the record. Is that right?

Thanks,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: A hiker crossing the river

[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

To me it is clear that the record playing was planned but at the same time there is no real indication as to whether the plan was carried out. There is a hint in the 'was to be' construction that although that was the plan, it probably never materialised;. Otherwise there would be not much point in using the passive infinitive.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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