Tuesday, March 4, 2014

grammaticality - "If I were to", "If I was to", & "If I was going to" Which is correct?




Examples:




  1. I didn't know if I was going to work next week.

  2. I didn't know if I was to work next week.

  3. I didn't know If I were to work next week.



I think number 1 is correct, but I would like to know whether is any difference between them. Regarding number 3, I don't think is correct. Can you provide more examples?




Thank you!


Answer



1 and 2 have very similar meanings. To my ears, though, 1 is more matter-of-fact and focused on what the speaker intended to do, while 2 is more focused on what the speaker was supposed to do.



3 is not correct. The past subjunctive here serves no purpose.


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