6 ways to talk about a missed situation: “I was going to“

How do you talk about something that you planned to do but didn’t? In this lesson, I will teach you six different ways to explain what happened and what went wrong. You will learn to explain, for example, why you were not able to finish your homework on time or why you were late for work. This will be useful to you just about every day, so don’t miss this opportunity to add some common phrases to your English! After the video, take the quiz at to test your understanding. TRANSCRIPT: Hi. This is Gill at , and today, we have a lesson which was requested by Karim, who left a comment on our website. So, Karim, I hope you’re watching. This is for you. Okay. So, the subject of the lesson is called: “Missed Situation“, which means you were going to do something, but something else happened and it stopped you doing what you wanted to do. So, there are different ways of expressing this in English. So I’m going to show you six different ways of talking about this kind of situation. Okay, so we have the first three examples on the board, so let’s have a look. So: “I was going to go shopping,“-that was my intention. I have planned to go shopping-“but“-and there’s always a “but“-“I got a phone call which lasted nearly an hour,“-someone phoned me and I was talking for nearly an hour-“and by the time the call ended“-when I finished the call, a whole hour had gone by-“the shops were all shut.“ The shops had closed, so that meant I could not go shopping. Okay? So I was going to go shopping, but da-da-lum, and by the time the call ended, the shops were all shut. So my plan to go shopping - I couldn’t go. Right? So that’s one way: “I was going to, but...“ All right? Another way of saying this is: “I was all set to“, I had everything arranged. “I was all set to go on holiday, but then my car broke down,“-something went wrong with my car-“and I had to spend the money on repairs instead.“ Instead of going on holiday. The money I was going to spend on the holiday, I had to spend that money getting the car repaired. Okay. So, again: “All set to“, “I was all set to“. Maybe I’d got my suitcase packed, I’d taken time of work, I was ready to go on holiday, but this happened and I had to spend the money on repairs instead. Okay? Right, and then the third example, this is talking to somebody. You had an intention, but you didn’t do it, and that this is the reason why. “I would have called you yesterday,“-I would have phoned you yesterday-“but my phone wasn’t working.“ Okay? So: “I would have“, I was wanting to. I would have, but something stopped me - my phone wasn’t working. Okay, so that’s three ways of saying what you meant to do and it didn’t happen. We’ll now move on to another three. Okay, so our next three examples. “I had every intention of returning the book to the library“, I planned to, I was going to. “I had every intention of returning the book to the library“, this is a book that you borrow from the library, and if you don’t return it by a certain date, they usually charge you a fee for late returning. So: “I had every intention of returning the book to the library last week, but“-“but“ again-“I have a friend staying,“-that’s a friend staying with me at my home-“and she’s been reading it.“ So because my friend is reading the book, I can’t return it yet. Okay? So once she’s gone home, I will return it, but not yet. Okay. Next example: “I had it all arranged to give my friend a surprise party“, so I had made the arrangements; I had all the plans, I had invited people on a particular date and at a time. It was all arranged. “I had it all arranged to give my friend a surprise party,“-a party that she didn’t know about-“but then she found out“-she discovered, she found out about my plan, she discovered my plan-“and said she didn’t want one!“ She didn’t want a surprise party. Okay? Some people love surprise parties; some people hate them. So, obviously, this person hates surprise parties. I once had a surprise party which I didn’t know about, and it was okay. It was a surprise, obviously, but it was okay. Arranged by my husband. And then a few years later he was trying to arrange another one, but when I discovered that he was doing it, I said: “No, no. I don’t want it this time.“ So if you find out about something, it’s possible you don’t actually want it. But anyway.