was going to be vs would have been by now

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ostap77

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"There's a job coming up. I was hoping Don was going to be here by now." OK?

OR

"There's a job coming up. I was hoping Don would have been here by now." OK?

If both OK, what would be the difference?
 

Raymott

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"There's a job coming up. I was hoping Don was going to be here by now." OK?

OR

"There's a job coming up. I was hoping Don would have been here by now." OK?

If both OK, what would be the difference?
The second is better, but "I was hoping Don would be here by now" is what people would generally say.

The problem with the first is that Don might have been going to be there. The fact that he wasn't there is not an indication of his not intending to be there. (If you don't understand this, don't worry about it.)
 
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