“would + infinitive” = will in past continuous tense vs “past continuous tense”
First example:
- Maria thought John was going to invite her to the party.
- Mary thought John would invite her to the party, but Mary didn’t know.
Why is
- the movie supposed to start at 8.00am?
- Did they expect the movie’s start at 8:00?
What is the difference in meaning between the structure would + infinitive when we are talking about past expectations and beliefs using the verb “think”, or “think”?
What is the most important thing to know when to do/for anyone that should know?
As for words similar in this case, they are identical in both situations.
If we talk about previous in the future we
can say: “I think John will invite me… I think John is going to
invite me… I think…” For these predictions we can use both
“will” and “going to” Your sentences are ‘future in the past”, and in that case, “will” becomes “would”, and “is going to”
becomes “was going to”
Are synonymous words?
In your examples, the first sentence expresses planning while the second one shows a general expectation/promise.
One example:
Mary thought John was going to invite her to the party -> -> She thought he planned to invite her; she was on his guest list.
Why didn’t my mother want me to go to -> parties with John? Why was he a good friend and then a good friend and the second
example was
- he told me the movie was going to start at 8:30. We think that was the result. -> The movie had started early, even though they thought it would. – plan
- They thought the movie would start at 8:00. -> -> They were told from the start that that was the time it started. – expectation/promise
Check some more examples and explanations of future in the past in this page if you like. What more does this is and isn’t grand authority, but there is
good information.
