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Milky Posted 19 years ago
Linguistics Studies

was going to

0How would you explain to students the use of the structure in Mary's reply? 02br
02br
00Jim: What are you doing tomorrow? 02br
00Mary: Well, I was going to my brother's house... 02br
00Jim: How would you like to go horseback riding? I have a friend who has horses, and... 0-
  

Top answer

0 The past continuous "was going" is less definite than the present continuous "am going" would be. (As hinted at by M. Hewings in 'Advanced Grammar in Use'; unit 4) Jim 'hears' Mary's hesitation and asks if she would like to go horseback riding instead.

— Annvan

  • 0 The past continuous "was going" is less definite than the present continuous "am going" would be.
  • (As hinted at by M.
  • Hewings in 'Advanced Grammar in Use'; unit 4) Jim 'hears' Mary's hesitation and asks if she would like to go horseback riding instead.
  • 0-
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2 Answers
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0 The past continuous "was going" is less definite than the present continuous "am going" would be. (As hinted at by M. Hewings in 'Advanced Grammar in Use'; unit 4) Jim 'hears' Mary's hesitation and asks if she would like to go horseback riding instead. 0-
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01. "What are you doing tomorrow?" "I was going to my brother's house."02br
02br
00It seems to me that "I'm going" in #1 signals a present intention, whereas "I was going" signals an intention in the past, with no information about whether that intention still holds good – unless the very fact of not presenting information about the status of the intention is itself a signal.
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