kadioguy
Key Member
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2017
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- Taiwan
LINDA: "Hello?"
STACY: "Hi Linda. This is Stacy. Are you free tomorrow night?"
LINDA: "No, I'm not. Why?"
STACY: "I'm inviting a couple of friends to sleep over."
LINDA: "I wish I could go, but I have to babysit my younger sister."
STACY: "That's too bad. We were going to rent a movie and order pizza."
LINDA: "Now I really wish I could go. That sounds like so much fun."
STACY: "Can your parents find another babysitter?"
LINDA: "No. Our regular babysitter got sick, so they asked me."
STACY: "I see. What time will your parents be back?"
LINDA: "9 o'clock pm."
STACY: "Do you want to come over after you finish babysitting?"
LINDA: "Will you still be awake?"
STACY: "Of course! It's a sleepover party. We're all going to sleep late."
LINDA: "Ok! Please save me some pizza."
STACY: "I will. See you tomorrow night."
[Source]
----
Why is it "We were going to ..." rather than "We are going to ..."?
a. The intention was in the past for an action that has not yet happened. Like "I wanted to do something" or "I had the desire to do (an action in the future)".
b. That implies this: we couldn't go if you don't join us.
I was talking about it with a Chinese speaker. I thought it meant (a), while he insisted on (b).
He said,
"I think you forgot to include the adverb 'tomorrow'.
1. We are going to do something tomorrow.
2. We were going to do something tomorrow.
3. We decided to do something tomorrow.
My first sentence means that we have a plan for tomorrow, and it's highly likely that we'll stick to that plan. The second sentence implies that there may be a change of plan. The third sentence simply states that the decision was made in the past."
-----
What do you think?
[Edit: Changed "but" to "while", and "means" to "meant"]
STACY: "Hi Linda. This is Stacy. Are you free tomorrow night?"
LINDA: "No, I'm not. Why?"
STACY: "I'm inviting a couple of friends to sleep over."
LINDA: "I wish I could go, but I have to babysit my younger sister."
STACY: "That's too bad. We were going to rent a movie and order pizza."
LINDA: "Now I really wish I could go. That sounds like so much fun."
STACY: "Can your parents find another babysitter?"
LINDA: "No. Our regular babysitter got sick, so they asked me."
STACY: "I see. What time will your parents be back?"
LINDA: "9 o'clock pm."
STACY: "Do you want to come over after you finish babysitting?"
LINDA: "Will you still be awake?"
STACY: "Of course! It's a sleepover party. We're all going to sleep late."
LINDA: "Ok! Please save me some pizza."
STACY: "I will. See you tomorrow night."
[Source]
----
Why is it "We were going to ..." rather than "We are going to ..."?
a. The intention was in the past for an action that has not yet happened. Like "I wanted to do something" or "I had the desire to do (an action in the future)".
b. That implies this: we couldn't go if you don't join us.
I was talking about it with a Chinese speaker. I thought it meant (a), while he insisted on (b).
He said,
"I think you forgot to include the adverb 'tomorrow'.
1. We are going to do something tomorrow.
2. We were going to do something tomorrow.
3. We decided to do something tomorrow.
My first sentence means that we have a plan for tomorrow, and it's highly likely that we'll stick to that plan. The second sentence implies that there may be a change of plan. The third sentence simply states that the decision was made in the past."
-----
What do you think?
[Edit: Changed "but" to "while", and "means" to "meant"]
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