内容正文:
Grammar and usage
Future in the past
Unit 3 Festivals and customs
A
B
B
B
past
present
future
future in the past
When we talk about the past, we sometimes want to refer to something which was in the future at the time we were speaking. Then we use future in the past.
He said the day before yesterday that he would come to my party yesterday evening, but he broke his promise.
Lead-in
The following is a story about how Della prepared a gift
for her husband Jim during the Christmas season. Find the sentences that use future in the past and fill in the box below.
ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS. That was all she had. Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. If she was to buy a nice gift for her husband Jim, she would need more money. But how could she earn some? Della stood in front of the mirror in her apartment. She looked at her reflection, brushed her long, brown hair, and made up her mind: she was going to sell her hair. With the money she received for it, she would buy Jim a perfect gift.
Exploring the rules
Della had her hair cut off and sold it for twenty dollars. She spent the next two hours hunting for Jim's gift. She found it at last: a simple but beautiful watch chain for his gold watch, which had been passed down to him from his grandfather. Della paid twenty-one dollars for the watch chain, and hurried home with the remaining eighty-seven cents. She looked at her reflection in the mirror carefully again. She felt nervous. Did she look like a little schoolboy without her beautiful long hair? Would Jim still think she was pretty?
She was about to find out.
Exploring the rules
4
And the next day would be Christmas.
If she was to buy a nice gift for her husband Jim, she would need more money.
… she was going to sell her hair.
… she would buy Jim a perfect gift.
Would Jim still think she was pretty?