What is the meaning of"Yesterday, I was going to leave"

[MOYEEA LEE]

Dear teachers, I asked a question here, but different people have different ideas...

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/yesterday-i-was-going-to-finsh-my-task.3237047/#post-16384239

If I say:

Yesterday, I was going to leave.

Does this one mean that "leave" yesterday, or just "decided to leave, maybe I would leave the next year"?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Matthew Wai]

remember what the teachers tell us: Context is king in English.

.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

People will continue to have different ideas if you carry on asking about single sentences without any real context. We can be clear about the time of the proposed leaving only if we are told.

Yes, of course.

Like yesterday, I planned to leave at 5 pm and go home. But it rained, so I was sturck in the restaurant.

In this way, can I say:

Yesterday, I was going to leave at 5 pm. But it rained, so I was struck in the restaurant.

 

[GoesStation]

Like yesterday, I planned to leave at 5 pm and go home. But it rained, so I was stuck [STRIKE]sturck[/STRIKE] in the restaurant.

In this way, can I say:

Yesterday, I was going to leave at 5 pm. But it rained, so I was stuck [STRIKE]struck[/STRIKE] in the restaurant.

Yes, with my corrections above. Note that "struck" is the simple past and past participle of to strike. The simple past and past participle of to stick​ is "stuck".

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

Yes, with my corrections above. Note that "struck" is the simple past and past participle of to strike. The simple past and past participle of to stick​ is "stuck".

Really thanks(even though I already thaked)!

But does these two make sense?

Yesterday, I was leaving at 5.(This one looks like strange)

Yesterday, I was about to leave at 5.(Maybe this one is right)

 

[GoesStation]

But do[STRIKE]es[/STRIKE] these two make sense?

Yesterday, I was leaving at 5.(This one looks like strange)

Yesterday, I was about to leave at 5.(Maybe this one is right)

Those are both possible but not very likely. It's more natural to say "At 5:00 PM yesterday, I was about to leave when Suzy walked in."

Or, if you actually left: "Yesterday I left at 5:00 PM." You only need "PM" or "AM" if it's not obvious from context whether the event happened before or after noon.

Always put a space after a period. Write "I was about to leave at 5:00. (See the space?)"

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

Those are both possible but not very likely. It's more natural to say "At 5:00 PM yesterday, I was about to leave when Suzy walked in."

Or, if you actually left: "Yesterday I left at 5:00 PM." You only need "PM" or "AM" if it's not obvious from context whether the event happened before or after noon.

Always put a space after a period. Write "I was about to leave at 5:00. (See the space?)"

Thanks so much!!!!

But if we put "yesterday" after "leave".

I was going to leave yesterday.

Normally, it means "leave" was planned to happen yesterday,right?

But if we just say:

Yesterday, I was leaving.(This one has the same meaning with"I was leaving yesterday", "yesterday" modifies "leaving", right?）

Yesterday，I was about to leave.(Can this one mean I would leave the next day?)

Thanks so much!!!

 

[emsr2d2]

Really, thanks (even though I already thanked)!



Yesterday, I was leaving at 5. (This one looks like strange)

Yesterday, I was about to leave at 5. (Maybe this one is right)

Thanks so much![strike]!!![/strike]

But what if we put "yesterday" after "leave"?


Normally, it means "leave" was planned to happen yesterday, right?

But if we just say:

Yesterday, I was leaving. (This one has the same meaning [strike]with[/strike] as "I was leaving

Yesterday, I was about to leave. (Can this one mean I would leave the next day?)

Thanks so much![strike]!![/strike]

You need to work on your spacing around punctuation. Remember:

- Put a space before an opening bracket but don't put a space after it.
- Don't put a space before a closing bracket but put one after it.
- Put a space before opening quotation marks but don't put a space after them.
- Don't put a space before closing quotation marks but put one after them.
- Put a space after a full stop, comma, question mark or exclamation mark.
- Don't put a space before a full stop, comma, question mark or exclamation mark.
- One punctuation mark (full stop, question mark or exclamation mark) is enough at the end of any sentence.

 

[GoesStation]

But if we just say:

Yesterday, I was leaving.(This one has the same meaning with"I was leaving yesterday", "yesterday" modifies "leaving", right?）

Yes, the two variations mean the same same thing. The present continuous requires some kind of qualification, though it could be in a different sentence:
A. What were you doing yesterday at five o'clock?
B. Yesterday at five? I was leaving.

Yesterday，I was about to leave.(Can this one mean I would leave the next day?)

"About to leave" means you were going to leave very soon. "About" is relative, though: if you're reviewing events that happened years ago, if could mean that you were going to leave in a few days; if you're talking about yesterday, it would mean in a few minutes.

 

[Raymott]

But if we put "yesterday" after "leave".

I'd suggest not starting a followup question with "But" (as I note ems has also done, in a different way.) It gives the impression that the other poster hasn't answered your previous question sufficiently. You could substitute 'And', or 'Also,'.