He was expecting to be able to go, but he gambled away

[EngLearner]

Suppose Peter, Mark, John and some other people agreed earlier that they would go to Mexico together. Then John went to Las Vegas and gambled away all his money. Mark knows about it, whereas Peter doesn't. Now, when it's about time to go, John has disappeared and isn't talking to anyone, so Peter asks Mark about him: "Will John be joining us on our trip to Mexico?". Mark replies:

1. He was expecting to be able to go, but he gambled away all his money.

2. He expected to be able to go, but he gambled away all his money.

3. He had expected to be able to go, but he gambled away all his money.

Are all three versions correct and acceptable in the dialog I made up? I'm wondering about the tenses in bold.

 

[emsr2d2]

All versions with "expected" are unnatural (a native speaker wouldn't use them).

The simple response would be "He was [meant to] but lost all his money in Vegas!"

 

[jutfrank]

He was going to come ...

Think of this as the past form of 'be going to', used to express a past intention.

... but he gambled all his money away.

This past simple clause is fine, to express his gambling as a past action.

... but he's gambled all his money away.

This present perfect clause talks about his present situation of now not being able to afford to go to Mexico.

 

[EngLearner]

He was going to come ...

Would it be unidiomatic to use the verb "go" instead of the verb "come"?

 

[emsr2d2]

Would it be unidiomatic to use the verb "go" instead of the verb "come"?

That wouldn't fit with the use of "joining us" in the question. It wouldn't work if anyone who was going on the trip asked the question. If someone not involved in the trip asked "Is John still going on the trip to Mexico?", the response could include "go".

 

[EngLearner]

A: "Will John be joining us on our trip to Mexico?"
B1: "He was planning to come, but he's gambled away all his money."
B2: "He'd been planning to come, but he's gambled away all his money."

In the given context, are responses B1 and B2 possible? B1 doesn’t make it clear whether John has ultimately dropped the idea of going to Mexico, whereas B2 implies that the speaker believes that he has. Is this correct?

 

[5jj]

The 'but' clause makes it clear in both sentences mean that he is not coming on this trip.