Planning went on

[Erbab]

This sentence is from listening section of Cambridge Practice Tests for IELTS 2. I simply do not understand why 'go on' and 'planning' are used together.
''
''I talked to Charles Owen, the leader of the expedition group, about the trip. Charles, how much planning went on beforehand?''

After this question, Charles is talking about his preparations.

 

[jutfrank]

Perhaps you're not seeing that planning is the subject of the verb phrase went on.

planning = preparation
went on = happened

You could paraphrase the question like this:

How much preparation was done?

 

[Erbab]

Thank you very much for your answer. Actually, before asking it, I was searching to find it as a collocation. I googled ''to go on a plan'' and something like that and just could not find anything.

You can say make a plan, make preparation, do preparation etc. However, it sounds totally weird to me to say go on preparation. In brief, Can I say that ''I am going on preparation for my trip/job interview/exam.'' I wonder in which occasions I can use go on interchangeable with make or do.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you very much for your answer. Actually, before asking it, I was searching to find it as a collocation. I googled ''to go on a plan'' and something like that and just could not find anything.

You can say "make a plan", "make preparations", "do preparation" etc. However, it sounds totally weird to me to say "go on preparation". In brief, can I say that ''I am going on preparation for my trip/job interview/exam''? I wonder in which [STRIKE]occasions[/STRIKE] situations I can use "go on" interchangeably with "make" or "do".

I don't think you have understood the previous answer. When "going on" or "went on" are used to mean "happen", you can't put them before the words "planning" or "preparations".

I am making preparations for my wedding.
Preparations are going on for my wedding.

He was preparing for his job interview.
Preparation for his job interview was going on.

How much planning went on beforehand?
How much planning did you do beforehand?

(Note that the two sentences in each pair don't mean exactly the same as each other.)