Conditional? Future in the past? Or something else?
Hello everybody!

What construction can be used to expressing something that was planned to be done in the future however, for some reason, it's come to nothing and I would also like to put the sentence in conditional.
Do I say: I was supposed to finish all the car body repair... or,
I should have finished all the car body repair... or,
I was going to finish all the car body repair,
or these examples are all wrong and there is some other grammar rule to expressing such a situation?

Thanks a lot!

Question

Conditional? Future in the past? Or something else?
Hello everybody!

What construction can be used to expressing something that was planned to be done in the future however, for some reason, it's come to nothing and I would also like to put the sentence in conditional.
Do I say: I was supposed to finish all the car body repair... or,
               I should have finished all the car body repair... or,
               I was going to finish all the car body repair,
or these examples are all wrong and there is some other grammar rule to expressing such a situation?

Thanks a lot!

Answer

Hi Robert,
I’m not sure I understand your request. What implication do you have for a conditional?  “If ..., then ....”.

“If I was supposed to finish all the car body repair, (then) you should have told me (that).” Something like that?

Not all compound-complex sentences (with two clauses joined by a conjunction showing the logical relationship between them) are conditionals.

“I should have finished all the car body repair, however, I had too much to do at work and didn’t get home in time.”

Or something else?

Answers · 2

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