We were to stay with Rogrigo in Lisbon ...

[SJNSJN]

We were to stay with Rogrigo in Lisbon…

a many times before he moved to Madrid.

b but he moved to Madrid.

Source: Cambridge Advanced Grammar in Use Third Edition (2013) Unit 14 Exercise 14.2 10 (Source info added by mod - see post #4)

 

[5jj]

Welcome to the forum, SJNSJN.

Where did you find this question, please? It is a forum requirement that we give the title and author of any work from which we quote.

 

[emsr2d2]

We were to stay with Rogrigo in Lisbon ...

a) ... many times before he moved to Madrid.
b) ... but he moved to Madrid.

While we wait for you to provide the source information, please note my changes to the layout above. An ellipsis is three dots with a space before and after it. Also note that I changed your title. Titles like "a or b" are useless. Titles must be unique, relevant to the thread and include all/most of the phrase/sentence you're asking us to look at.

 

[SJNSJN]

While we wait for you to provide the source information, please note my changes to the layout above. An ellipsis is three dots with a space before and after it. Also note that I changed your title. Titles like "a or b" are useless. Titles must be unique, relevant to the thread and include all/most of the phrase/sentence you're asking us to look at.

Source: Cambridge Advanced Grammar in Use Third Edition (2013) Unit 14 Exercise 14.2 10

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you for providing the source information. Please remember to do this in post #1 in future.

What are your thoughts on the question? You're a retired English teacher so I assume you have a view (and it might be similar to mine!)

 

[BobK]

Is there a question here? If it's 'Which is "right"?', a is more likely, but I can imagine a context where b would fit.

 

[SoothingDave]

Really? I can't see how "a" makes any sense.

 

[Skrej]

Really? I can't see how "a" makes any sense.

It took me a bit to parse what must be BrE phrasing, but try this:

We were (supposed) to stay with Rogrigo in Lisbon many times before he moved to Madrid. (Apparently they didn't however).

 

[Tarheel]

Okay, but why in the world would you say you were supposed to stay somewhere many times if you didn't even do it once?

 

[emsr2d2]

By the way, I'm pretty sure it should be "Rodrigo". The name "Rogrigo" doesn't appear to exist in Portuguese.

 

[Skrej]

Okay, but why in the world would you say you were supposed to stay somewhere many times if you didn't even do it once?

Presumably because Rodrigo's decision to move was made after earlier decision for them to come and stay with him. Now they're recounting the series of events to someone else.

 

[jutfrank]

This is the future seen from the past.

We were to stay with Rodrigo in Lisbon

= we stayed with Rodrigo in Lisbon (past time from the perspective of now)
= we are to stay with Rodrigo in Lisbon (future time from the perspective of then)

The to-infinitive means that staying with Rodrigo was the scheduled plan at the time, which we assume did go ahead, given there's nothing to say it didn't.

 

[BobK]

Really? I can't see how "a" makes any sense.

Perhaps this doesn't work in AE. In b, 'we were to stay' is simply referring to a plan that didn't work out; it stands for 'we were hoping/planning/intending... to stay'. In a , the sense of 'we were to stay' is different. It's a literary and/'or archaic way of saying 'it was usual for us to stay [possibly many times]. Rodrigo's (I agree with @emsr2d2) move to Madrid put an end to that.