Past tense

[hsb]

I would like to know the difference in meaning of the following sentences?
please help.
A- i was to go.
B- I was about to go.
c- i was going to go.
D- i was to have gone.
Thank you

[Manas Ranjan Mallick]

I am not a professional teacher. The prolem here is the proper usage of inifinitive. hsb will do well to visit a site on gerund and infinitive. My observations are as follows.
A- I was to go. It is not correct to use an infinite after an auxiliary verb.
B- I was about to go. It is ok, because of the preposition ‘about’ which has an infinitive as its object. To make it clear, let us take the example of a complete sentence:
Last month I was about to go on a pilgrimage.
C - I was going to go. It is also ok as the infinitive is used after the main verb ‘going’. The meaning can be derived from a complete sentence:
Yesterday, I was going by train to go for fishing.
D- I was to have gone. This is grammatically incorrect.

[David L.]

A- i was to go.

i was supposed to go to the party, but I took ill
.
B- I was about to go.

I was about to go to school when all of a sudden, I got this pain in my stomach.

c- i was going to go to

I was going to go to school - I had my school clothes on and my lunch in my school satchel - but the snow was getting so bad my mother said it was safer to stay home.

D- i was to have gone to

I was to have gone to his party, but we had a falling out so I went to the movies instead.

[banderas]

Originally Posted by Manas Ranjan Mallick

I am not a professional teacher. The prolem here is the proper usage of inifinitive. hsb will do well to visit a site on gerund and infinitive. My observations are as follows.
A- I was to go. It is not correct to use an infinite after an auxiliary verb.
D- I was to have gone. This is grammatically incorrect.

I am not sure I agree with you here

A:"I was to go with my cousins to Wisconsin, you know."
D:"He was to have been rewarded for handing in the stolen goods until it was discovered that he was involved with the criminal gang."
D:"I was to have gone also but declined".
All of them work, in my opinion.

[hsb]

Thank you very much all of you for replying.

What I actually want to know is if I want to say that I had decided/planned or had an intention to go somewhere but I did not go or could not go which of the above sentences should I use? Please help me.

[banderas]

Originally Posted by hsb

Thank you very much all of you for replying.

What I actually want to know is if I want to say that I had decided/planned or had an intention to go somewhere but I did not go or could not go which of the above sentences should I use? Please help me.

If you take a look at David's examples you should be able to see that all of them work.