🔮 Grammar · Talking About the Future
Future in the Past (Was Going To)
Was going to, was about to and would — how English looks into the future from a point in the past, and tells the story of plans that never came true.
Grammar › Talking About the Future › Future in the Past (Was Going To)
The rule in one sentenceTo talk about the future from a past viewpoint, shift every future form one step back — will → would, is going to → was going to, is about to → was about to — and you get the grammar of changed plans, interrupted intentions and reported words.
The future, seen from yesterday
English can stand at any point in the past and look forward from there. What it sees is the future in the past: events that were still ahead at that moment, whatever we now know actually happened. Cinema adores this grammar, because it’s the grammar of dramatic irony — the audience knows the ending; the characters only have their plans.
Was going to reports a past intention — and it practically begs for a but. In The Cranes Are Flying, Boris was going to marry Veronika; instead he volunteered for the front. In Five Easy Pieces, Bobby was going to be a concert pianist; he walked away from that whole life and chose the oil fields. In Mildred Pierce, Mildred was always going to give her daughter the life she never had herself — whatever it cost her.
Would is the past of will. It appears after past reporting verbs — she said she would come — and in the narrator’s voice of destiny: nobody on set knew that Giant would be James Dean’s final film. In Laura, the detective investigating a murder never imagines that Laura herself would walk back through her own front door, very much alive.
Was about to adds imminence: the event was seconds away when something cut across it. And whole films live in this territory — The Remains of the Day is two hours of things that were about to be said between a butler and a housekeeper, and never were.
🎬 Compare: “Boris is going to marry Veronika” (The Cranes Are Flying, seen from inside 1941) vs. “Boris was going to marry Veronika” (the same plan, told from afterwards).
One small was, and the sentence already whispers that the war changed everything.
How to build it
Was/were going to — past intentions
In Ballad of a Soldier, Alyosha was going to spend his whole leave with his mother.
Bobby wasn’t going to touch a piano ever again — or so he tells himself in Five Easy Pieces.
wasn’t / weren’t going to + base verbWas Mildred Pierce’s daughter ever going to be satisfied?
invert was/wereWould & was to (have done) — reports and arrangements
Nobody watching the rushes knew that Giant would be James Dean’s last film.
In East of Eden, Cal’s gift of money was to have won his father over — it was refused.
was to have + past participle = arrangement never carried outWho could have guessed that Laura would walk back through her own front door?
When to use which
Was going to / was about to — plans and near-misses
- Intentions that changed: In The Cranes Are Flying, Boris was going to marry Veronika; instead he volunteered for the front.
- Interrupted actions: I was about to switch off The Conversation — then the twist landed and I couldn’t move.
- Predictions from past evidence: You could tell from the first scene that things were going to end badly for Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Would / was to — reports, destiny, arrangements
- Reported speech: She said she would lend me her Mildred Pierce DVD the next day.
- Narrative destiny: Giant would go on to earn James Dean a posthumous Oscar nomination.
- Past arrangements: Alyosha’s visit home in Ballad of a Soldier was to be brief — the journey ate nearly all of it.
Signal words: your instant clue
These phrases put the camera in the past and point it forwards.
Visual guide
Teacher Teddy’s illustrated guide to this rule is being drawn — the full swipe-through infographic will appear here soon.
Common mistakes
❌ He said he will return the Laura DVD tomorrow.
✅ He said he would return the Laura DVD the next day.
After a past reporting verb, will backshifts to would — and tomorrow shifts to the next day.
❌ I was going to watched Mildred Pierce last night, but I fell asleep.
✅ I was going to watch Mildred Pierce last night, but I fell asleep.
Going to always takes the base verb — the past is carried by was/were, not by the main verb.
❌ Bobby would become a concert pianist, but he gave it all up in Five Easy Pieces.
✅ Bobby was going to become a concert pianist, but he gave it all up.
Plain would states what really happened later (destiny); an abandoned plan needs was going to.
Exceptions & tricky cases
Four refinements that turn a good answer into a C1 one.
1. Was to have done = the unfulfilled arrangement. Add have + past participle and the failure becomes explicit.
✅ Boris and Veronika’s wedding in The Cranes Are Flying was to have come after the war — the film is the story of why it never did.
2. Was going to can be about now. As a politeness strategy, the past form softens a present question or suggestion.
✅ I was going to ask whether you’d ever seen A Streetcar Named Desire — fancy it tonight? (The asking is happening right now.)
3. Would has a double life. Past habit or future in the past — context decides.
✅ In The Conversation, Harry Caul would replay the tape obsessively. (habit) ✅ Harry was terrified of what would happen to the couple on it. (future in the past)
4. Was about to vs was going to. Imminence versus intention — seconds away versus somewhere in the plan.
✅ In Ballad of a Soldier, the train was about to leave (seconds away) — and Alyosha was going to see his mother (the plan behind the whole journey).
Practice: choose the right form
Eight quick questions. Pick the answer you’d actually say — you get the explanation either way.
1. In The Cranes Are Flying, Boris ___ marry Veronika — then the war began.
A plan seen from a past viewpoint — and one the war destroyed → was going to.
2. Alyosha ___ spend his whole leave with his mother, but in Ballad of a Soldier he gives most of it away helping strangers.
An intention, not something seconds away → was going to, not was about to.
3. The detective in Laura never imagined that the “murder victim” ___ walk through the door alive.
A future seen from a past moment → would, the past of will.
4. I ___ switch off The Conversation halfway through — then the plot twisted and I couldn’t.
Seconds from happening, then interrupted → was about to.
5. In East of Eden, Cal’s present ___ his father’s heart — the money was refused.
An arrangement that never came off → was to have + past participle.
6. She said she ___ lend me her copy of Mildred Pierce the next day.
Reported speech after said → backshift will to would.
7. Bobby in Five Easy Pieces ___ a concert pianist — instead he chose the oil fields.
A life plan abandoned, not an event seconds away → was going to.
8. Sorry to interrupt — I ___ ask if you fancied watching A Streetcar Named Desire tonight.
The polite softener: a past form for a present question → was going to.
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