Difficulty naming the tense of a verb construction using "to be"

Hi FLJohnson, welcome to English Forums.

'Were to do' is used to refer to a past plan.

Example: Last week we were to visit our aunt, but couldn't due to bad weather.

The data were to be entered into the computer on Friday.

Here the main verb enter is in passive form.

Another example
Last week we were to be taken to a bird p

FLJohnsonWhat is the tense of the verb "were to be entered"

It's not a tense as such. 'Were to' is a past-tense form of BE to, though there is actually no infinitive form of that vverb. It's sometimes referred to as am/is/are/was/were to.

fivejedjonIt's sometimes referred to as am/is/are/was/were to.

Factoid #357253. Palmer always called it simply is to. (The English Verb)

CJ

Thanks for the reply, and I apologize for this late response.

I entirely agree that this is used to refer to a past plan, but I don't understand why one would presume that the plan had failed just by its usage. How else might one refer to a past plan that succeeded? Imagine that one is sitting on a witness stand and asked, "Please describe your plan to rob the bank?" I might likely respon

FLJohnsonThere should be no assumption that this part of the plan was not met just because of the construction of the sentence. Correct?

Correct. Neither success nor failure can be assumed just because an expectation existed.

CJ

CalifJimCorrect. Neither success nor failure can be assumed just because an expectation existed.

Thank you,CJ.

So if the verb is actually "was to" as you are suggesting, the phrase "to be entered" in my example should not be considered an infinitive in the passive voice? (Again sorry for the late response.)

FLJohnsonSo if the verb is actually "was to" as you are suggesting, the phrase "to be entered" in my example should not be considered an infinitive in the passive voice? (Again sorry for the late response.)

That's a leap of logic.

Many thanks for this explanation. My head is now spinning. It has been too long since I took English grammar in high school, and I don't even have the vocabulary to properly refer to these parts of speech. I lost the use of the word "idiom" long ago.