Using the past to refer to future

Question

Hi,Please tell me if the use of the following tenses to describe my intention to do something in the future is OK. I think they are OK since I have seen them used often in that contect but couldn't figure out the logic behind the use (it there is any). Sentences like "If you were going to XXX Museum tomorrow, I would like to hear about it" sounds OK, but I would go for "If you are going to XXX Museum tomorrow, I want to hear about it."Hi, all.It seems like I  haven't seen you for ages -- just feels that way. I know we just talked a few monthes ago. Ha. ha. I was wondering if you were planning to do anything tomorrow. If you were, if you don't mind me asking thIs: were you planning to go to XXX Museum with your friends? If you were, I thought I might join you guys. Please ring me up right away if you were planning to go there. Learning about arts on a Saturday sounds like not a bad way to spend a day.Let me know soon. Bye.

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

I am not the world's greatest expert on the technical analysis of conditional statements, but FWIW here are my thoughts.

"Were" here is not the past tense, if that's what your message title is referring to. It's a subjunctive.

1) ... are you planning to go to *** Museum with your friends? -- Fine.

2) ... were you planning to go to *** Museum with your friends? -- Fine; more cautious/polite/uncertain.

3) If you are going to *** Museum tomorrow... -- Fine.

4) If you were going to *** Museum tomorrow... -- Doesn't sound quite right to me. My guess as to why this is so when #2 sounds OK is that "planning to go" shifts us into the present, near present, or even past, while "going" here is definitely referring to the future (but this has nothing to do with "were" being the past tense; here it's not). Thus, "What would you do if you were going to the shops and suddenly..." seems OK because "going" is now just timeless hypothetical rather than future. If I wanted to use subjunctive "were" with a future sense of "going" then I would say "If you were to go to *** Museum tomorrow..."

Philip · Answer

Mr W's explanation is what I would have said, but not as well as he has.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you. I was looking at some notes I made from the Englishpage.com website on its Conditional Tutorial some years back and I found this as an example of Future Unreal Conditional + Continuous on it:

If I were waiting there next week when he gets off the plane, he would be totally surprised.

What is the difference between this and "If you were going to *** Museum tomorrow"??

Mr Wordy · Answer

AnonymousIf I were waiting there next week when he gets off the plane, he would be totally surprised.

What is the difference between this and "If you were going to *** Museum tomorrow"??

Hmmm... Here's my tentative theory.

In the first example, "waiting" is a proper continuous action, whereas when we say "if you are/were going to the museum" we're not usually really talking about the continuous action of "going" (that is, "travelling"). Despite the tense "going", we're usually actually talking about a discrete decision/action.

Compare these two:

1. If you were going [travelling] to the museum tomorrow, and the train suddenly stopped, what would you do? (Highly unlikely thing to want to say, I know, but never mind!)

2. If you were to go to the museum tomorrow, I'm sure you'd have a great time.

These both seem reasonable to me. The first is analogous to the "waiting" example, but the second is closer to the "discrete" meaning of "go/going" that seems appropriate in the context your original post. (In my original reply, when I said "If you were going to *** Museum tomorrow... -- Doesn't sound quite right to me", I was only considering the latter.)

Using the past to refer to future

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