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  • Hi. My name's Rebecca. You know how sometimes you make plans, and then your plans change

  • and you do something different from whatever you thought you were going to do? Well, in

  • today's lesson, I'm going to show you how to express yourself when changes take place

  • from the plans that you had made to what you actually do. So, let's have a look at this.

  • So, the way you talk about changes in plans in the past is by using the expression: "was

  • supposed to", or: "were supposed to", or: "was going to", "were going to". All right?

  • I'll give you many examples of this. So what you need to do to use this expressions, you

  • need to have first a subject, for example: "I".

  • "I", then you use the past tense of the verb "to be": "was",

  • then you use this expression: "supposed to". So far we have: "I was supposed to",

  • plus you need to add a verb. All right? So: "I was supposed to do something.", "You

  • were going to call me.", etc. Now, you can use this to talk about all kinds of activities,

  • and I've given you some examples on the board. The activities can relate to people, they

  • can relate to things, or just to actions in themselves.

  • So let's look at some examples. "I was supposed to call my mom." Now, this sentence is fine

  • by itself. "I was supposed to call my mom." All right? But often, we add something, like

  • to explain why you didn't do that. So, for example: "I was supposed to call my mom, but

  • it got too late." Or: "I was going to visit my friend, but he wasn't home." Or: "I was

  • supposed to talk to my boss, but he was too busy." All right? So you see how it works?

  • You use: "I was supposed to" or "I was going to", plus this, and then if you want, you

  • can give an explanation about why your plans didn't work out.

  • Let's look at some examples of how it works with things. "We were going to buy", oops.

  • Not "help", but "milk". "We were going to buy some milk, but the store was closed.",

  • "I was going to send the cheque, but I didn't have enough money in my account." Or: "He

  • was going to fix the computer, but he came home too late." All right?

  • Now, you see I'm changing the subject. So you could say: "I was supposed to", "He was

  • supposed to", "She was supposed to". So these, we use with "was". And you could also say:

  • "You were going to", "We were going to", "They were going to". All right? So, of course,

  • you must know whether to use "was" or "were", and that you learn when you learn the past

  • tense of the verb "to be". Okay.

  • Now let's look at some actions. "I was supposed to travel this week, but it didn't work out.",

  • "I was supposed to sleep, but my friends came over and then we went out instead.", "I was

  • supposed to teach today, but I was feeling unwell." Okay? So here are many examples,

  • and you can come up with your own. I'm sure there's something that you were planning to

  • do which didn't work out. So think about it: what were you supposed to do yesterday that

  • you didn't end up doing? And then you can use the sentence.

  • Now, not only can you use this expression in sentences, you can also use it in a question.

  • Now, often it's kind of in a negative question, like this: "Weren't you supposed to go to

  • school today? What happened? How come you're still at home?" Or: "Weren't you going to

  • submit your resume? What happened? Did you change your mind?" Or: "Weren't you supposed

  • to attend the lecture?" Or: "Weren't you going to see the doctor?" Right? So you could also

  • use it in question format, and usually it will be kind of a negative because somebody

  • had told you that they were going to do something and then you found out that they didn't do

  • it. So you can use this kind of expression. All right?

  • So once again, the expression is: "supposed to" or "going to". If you're writing it, remember

  • to spell it with the "d", because when I say it: "supposed to", you don't hear the "d".

  • So don't make the mistake of leaving out the "d" in the word "supposed". Okay? We don't

  • hear it, but you must spell it. All right?

  • If you'd like to do some practice on these expressions, please go to our website: www.engvid.com.

  • And you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel to get lots of other English lessons. Okay?

  • Lots of luck with your English. Bye for now.

Hi. My name's Rebecca. You know how sometimes you make plans, and then your plans change

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