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 #2 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 20:39 pm "I was to ..." -- is it correct? |
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| Gray wrote: |
"I was to ask this question many a time before."
How do you natives perceive this? Is it grammatically correct? If yes, what would you choose -- 'I was to' or 'I was going to'? |
Hi Gray,
I am not native speaker, can I attempt to answer your question???
The correct sentence is "I was GOING to ask this question many TIMES before"
"was going to" is the past tense of "be going to" = plan to do something
For a detail explanation, could you refer to my answer at http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic41196.html#was_to_was_going_to_would
Please correct me if I am wrong, thank you. |
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Be.emily
I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 40
Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
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| #3 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 20:51 pm "I was to ..." -- is it correct? |
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| Gray wrote: |
"I was to ask this question many a time before."
How do you natives perceive this? Is it grammatically correct? If yes, what would you choose -- 'I was to' or 'I was going to'? |
"I was to" is grammatically correct but this sentence looks unfinished. There has to be something after before.
"I was to ask this question many a time before I got an answer." or something like this. It depends on context.
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con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. |
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 Milanya
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 846
Location: Texas, USA (at present)
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| #4 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 21:18 pm "I was to ..." -- is it correct? |
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| Milanya wrote: |
| There has to be something after before. |
This is a paradox 
Coming back to the derived question, does it mean that in sentences like "I was to ask this question many a time before", we cannot imply "before this moment" by just using "before"?
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First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English |
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Gray
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
Posts: 972
Location: Proxima Centauri
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| #5 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 22:13 pm "I was to ..." -- is it correct? |
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I am not a gammarian. It just does not sound right.
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con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. |
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Milanya
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 846
Location: Texas, USA (at present)
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| Usage of "have had together" | My definition of a redundancy... vs My definition of redundancy... |
