future in the past

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ESL forum > Ask for help > future in the past

future in the past

jg574

future in the past

hi!!!i �m really worried cause i cannot get the difference between "was going to","was about to" and "was on the verge of".some of you have already tried to explain it to me but it is still confusing for me. i need to explain it to my students and they won �t get it if i don �t explain it properly.can you help me?or can you suggest a site or a book where i can read about it?please i �m desperate!!!

13 Sep 2010

Petpet

Hello,

this is how I understand the difference:

I was going to phone you yesterday, but I forgot. - unfulfilled intention, I intended to do something, but it did not happen...

I was about to go out when you called. / I was about to give up when I finally came across a solution. - it is sort of neutral, nothing dramatic, the intended action was somehow interrupted by something else if it is in the past, I think.

at present - I am about to eat my dinner. / She is about to leave for work.

The building was on the verge of collapsing. / She was on the verge of leaving her boyfriend. - sounds more omnious, usually something bad/dramatic was going to happen

be about to / be going to + the infinitive

be on the verge of + -ing / noun

Greetings,

Petra

13 Sep 2010

hdefined

If you �re the same person who asked about something being "on the verge of," I must reiterate that it usually refers to something dramatic and not really something the speaker is in control of. "I was on the verge of tears." "I was on the verge of losing my temper." Both refer to emotional situations that the speaker does not seem to have complete control over - not that there �s an absence of control, but it is more about describing a near state of change than an intention to change things.

To "be about to" do something implies immediacy before that action. The moment described takes place right before the intended action.

To "be going to" do something implies intention at some point. It doesn �t matter at what point that intention takes place. It could be, "I �m going to be rich in 40 years."

14 Sep 2010