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Hole One a New See Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

'Was to become'

Hi everybody,

"Their story was to become one of the best-known tragedies in the history of Western emigration."

Could you tell me the meaining of 'was to become'? Is it a grammar thing or an expression? I just don't understand why the substantive verb + to ("was to") is in the sentence and what it is.

It is about the Donner family (By the way, I don't think it is important).

Thanks for any help in advance.
  

Top answer

The structure is "be + to + verb" and I'd say it's relatively common, especially in formal writing (and sometimes in a literary style) The president is to visit Germany next week. (=the president is going to visit Germany next week (plan)) Your sentence has a different meaning, in that it doesn't suggest a plan. It simply means that their story became one of the best known tragedies, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly to most/some people.

— Ivanhr

  • The structure is "be + to + verb" and I'd say it's relatively common, especially in formal writing (and sometimes in a literary style) The president is to visit Germany next week.
  • (=the president is going to visit Germany next week (plan)) Your sentence has a different meaning, in that it doesn't suggest a plan.
  • It simply means that their story became one of the best known tragedies, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly to most/some people.
  • "however, this would've been less emphatic and less narrative.
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2 Answers
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The structure is "be + to + verb" and I'd say it's relatively common, especially in formal writing (and sometimes in a literary style)

The president is to visit Germany next week. (=the president is going to visit Germany next week (plan))

Your sentence has a different meaning, in that it doesn't suggest a plan. It simply means that their story became one of the best known traged
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Hole One a New SeeTheir story was to become
is to become ~ will become (Future of the Present)
was to become ~ would become (Future of the Past)

At the time of the story, the people did not know how people in the future were going to react to their story, but now we know the reaction, so we can say that their story would become well known,
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