On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-inﬁnitive
Construction in English
Takanobu Akiyama
Abstract
This paper investigates the linguistic contexts in which the was/were to-infinitive construction
in English is used and casts light upon the semantic/pragmatic mechanism by which the target
construction denotes a sense of actualization（e.g. By an unfortunate twist of fate, Sunderland were
to experience the full might of the cousins playing in the same team.（B1L 325））．Certain linguists
have pointed out that the construction in question can express actualization of the situation in its
future-in-the-past use, but none of them, as far as I can determine, has provided a fine-grained
analysis of the semantic/pragmatic triggers for its actualization use. Therefore, this paper aims toinspect the contexts in which the actualized FIP（i.e. the situation referred to by the main verb of
the sentence is interpreted as having actualized in the past）is interpreted. Furthermore, this is tobe contrasted with contexts where the target construction can also denote non-actualized FIP
situations（e.g. The British position was simpler; Russia was to be kept away from the Straits andAustria-Hungary was to ensure this, if possible.（CM6 1619））．My corpus-based research will clarify
that there are eight main triggers for the target construction to be construed as being actualized
and three main triggers for non-actualized FIP interpretations.
1. Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to give a detailed and comprehensive description of the linguistic
contexts in which the was/were to-infinitive construction in English is used and to scrutinize thesemantic/pragmatic mechanism by which the target construction denotes a sense of actualization（e.g. Although in his later years, Einstein was to involve himself more and more in social and politicalmatters - especially pacifism and Zionism - he was fundamentally a theoretical physicist through and1）through.（B78 1132））．
Linguists have pointed out that the construction in question can express

Examples quoted from corpus data are from the British National Corpus（BNC）and are identiﬁed by textﬁlereference（e.g. JXU）and line number（e.g. 1534）．Here and elsewhere in this study, italics in corpus sentences
quoted from the BNC are my additions, used to highlight relevant parts of the example.

1）− 17 −

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actualization of the situation in its future-in-the-past（henceforth FIP）use, but none of them, as far
as I can determine, has provided a fine-grained analysis of the semantic/pragmatic triggers for its
actualization use（cf. Collins（2009：85）；Declerck（2010）；Goldberg and van der Auwera（2012）；
Hewings（2013：Unit 12）；Huddleston and Pullum（2002：206）；Leech（2004：70）；Quirk et al.（1986：
218）；Swan（2016：§43））．In other words, this paper aims to cast light upon the contexts in which
the actualized FIP（i.e. the situation referred to by the main verb of the sentence is interpreted ashaving actualized in the past）is interpreted. This is to be contrasted with contexts where the target
construction can also denote non-actualized FIP situations（e.g. He was to visit units of all the threedivisions in the Corps area, each of which was to be concerned with the repatriations.（FE5 908））．
The organization of this paper is as follows. Section 2 gives a brief survey of previous analysesof the was/were to-infinitive construction and indicates that FIP falls into two types in terms ofactuality of the situation denoted by the target construction. Here we will see that there are five
types of construction which express FIP but only two types out of them can refer to either
actualized or non-actualized FIP. Section 3 conducts a detailed inspection of the linguistic contexts on
the basis of the empirical data retrieved from the British National Corpus（BNC）and explicatessemantic/pragmatic “triggers” for the was/were to-infinitive construction to be construed as being
actualized FIP. Here I will put forward eight types of triggers for the actualized FIP interpretation.
Section 4 carries out a scrutinization of non-restrictive infinitival relative clauses, which are asyntactic variant of the was/were to-infinitive construction. I will point out that this construction
denotes similar senses to was/were to-infinitives and I will illustrate this using corpus data. Section 5
is devoted to a close examination of the linguistic contexts by which non-actualized FIP
interpretation is brought about. Here, three types of triggers for non-actualized FIP interpretation
are put forward. Section 6 gives a corpus survey of ambiguous examples and points out that many
sentences do not contain these kinds of triggers we have observed in themselves and thus
construing the actuality of the target construction is sometimes vague. Section 7 provides a brief
description of was/were to have + past participle construction. Section 8 then concludes with a briefsummary and a discussion of the implications of the research contained in this article.
2. Predicate Constructions Denoting Future-in-the-Past
Linguists have indicated that the English language has a wide range of constructions
expressing future-in-the-past, i.e. states-of-affairs that are in the future seen at a particular point in
the past（cf. Collins（2009：83-86）；Declerck（1991：379-383）；Declerck（2010）；Goldberg and vander Auwera（2012）；Hewings（2013：Unit 12）；Huddleston and Pullum（2002：197）；Leech（2004：− 18 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English

52-53）；Quirk et al.（1986：218）；Salkie（2010：200）；Squartini（2016：54-57）；Swan（2016：§43））．
A promising classification of the constructions expressing future-in-the-past is put forward by Quirk
et al（1986：218），which is summarized as follows:（1）a.［modal verb construction with would（rare; literary narrative style）］
Vietnam was one of the historical tragedies which would eventually follow from thisinsecurity.（A8F 781）
b.［was/were going to + infinitive（often with the sense of ‘unfulfilled intention’）］I thought this year was going to be a slow year but it hasn't been, it just keeps going.
（APL 382）c.［past progressive（arrangement predetermined in the past）］
Her new secretary was arriving and was going to share her flat for a while.（H7E
2151）
d.［was/were to + infinitive（formal）;（i）= ‘was destined to’;（ii）= ‘arrangement’］（ⅰ）The family was later to be among Gloucester’s closest associates.（EEE 410）
（ⅱ）Le Monde of Aug. 21 reported that the Prime Minister was to visit the island
shortly.（HLN 1892）
about to + infinitive（‘on the point of’; often with the sense of ‘unfulfillede.［was/were
intention’）］
The Queen was about to go abroad for several weeks.（A68 2565）
These constructions have a common denominator in that they are used in the past tenses of theverb forms while referring to the future seen from a viewpoint in the past. They are, however,further classified according to whether or not the sentence “guarantees that the event foreseen in
the past actually did take place”（Leech 2004：52）．As previous analyses correctly point out, theconstructions of would and was/were to can guarantee the situation is actualized（see example（1a）and（1d（i））above），although the other constructions listed in（1）cannot.（cf. Declerck（2010：271-2）；Huddleston and Pullum（2003：206）；Quirk et al.（1986：218））．
3. Contexts Triggering Actualization Interpretation in the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction
Now that I have made necessary distinctions among FIP uses into two types from the point ofview of actualization, let us proceed to cast light upon the contexts in which FIP constructions areused and consider the semantic or pragmatic triggers for the actualization interpretation of this− 19 −

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construction. In this section, in particular, I will confine myself to scrutinizing the linguistic contexts
in which actualization of the situation of the future in the past occurs.
3.1. Proper Noun Subjects
My corpus investigation clarifies that proper noun subjects + was/were to-infinitive
construction predicates are likely to denote the actualized FIP. The BNC contains 1232 examples ofthe syntactic sequence “proper noun + was/were to-infinitive”. The more actual the referent of theproper noun is, the more likely it is that the hearer of the sentence will interpret the situation
concerning the referent as factual and sometimes actualized, as in:（2）a. Archimedes became ‘that divine man’ and Galileo saw in Euclid the wonder of geometry,especially in the work on ratios, which Galileo was to expand and use to its limit later.（B7K
1134）
b. W
 inston Churchill was to sum up his appraisal in a contemptuous phrase：‘He came, he saw,
he capitulated.’（BNC：CLX 676）
In examples（2a-b），the referents of the proper noun subjects of the was to construction are
historical figures（Galileo and Winston Churchill, respectively），which are likely to lead the hearer
to interpret the situation denoted by the sentences as being factual. Historical figures are likely to be
described with the factual point of view, because descriptions of historical figures are seen from aviewpoint in the past objectively. Historical or actual figures, however, do not always guarantee theactuality of the situation the sentence expresses, because factuality can indicate a situation that was
merely planned but not actualized in the past as well. In examples（3a）and（3b）below, the proper
nouns of the sentences refer to historical and actual figures respectively but they themselves hardly
contribute the FIP interpretation to the sentences. At this point, proper noun subjects can be
described as being a “weak trigger” for inducing the FIP interpretation.
（3）a. Rumours were spreading that Mozart was to marry Constanze.（CEW 515）
b. P rince Charles was to see for himself. As the Press and television cameras waited a shortdistance away at a community centre, the coach slipped quietly into Niddrie Mains Drive andon to Wauchope Terrace.（K5A 5943-4）
3.2. The Causal RelationshipThe causal relationship between two situations will be an appropriate trigger for the− 20 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English

actualized FIP interpretation to be chosen in the was/were to-infinitive construction. In particular,
the stronger the causal relationship between a reason and the resultant situation denoted by thewas/were to-infinitive construction, the more likely it is that the predicate denotes the actualized
FIP, as in:（4）a. B y an unfortunate twist of fate, Sunderland were to experience the full might of the cousins
playing in the same team.（B1L 325）
b. In this endeavour, Chapman was to meet some brotherly rivalry.（B0L 263）c. T hanks to American investment, Woodfall was to flourish, but at considerable cost to its
original brave intentions.（AL7 1196）
Under the linguistic context in the past tense, the adverbial phrase by an unfortunate twist of fate in（4a）suggests that the following situation will inevitably occur. This linguistic context necessarily
induces the hearer to construe that the situation of the sentence is actualized. An analogous
comment holds for（4b）and（4c）．The adverbial phrases（i.e. in this endeavour and thanks to
American investment）refer to an accomplishment of a particular process which leads to bringing
about another situation. The situations denoted by was to construction in（4b）and（4c）seem to beguaranteed as being actualized through this interpretation process of these adverbial phrases.
The causal relationship between two situations does not always consist of an adverbial phrase
and a finite clause, however. The main clause in（5a）and the first clause in（5b）below fulfill a
pragmatic function as a reason which leads to the situation communicated by the following clause
which is highlighted by being italicized. In（5a），the main clause conveys as a fact that a phobia
was given rise to by the incident that had a bad effect on Joyce’s suffering later on.（5b）describes
the personal history of Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, an actual cricketer. The first clause gives
the fact that Viv Richards became a member of Somerset in 1974, and the second clause, on the basisof the content of the previous clause, communicates a factual implication that Richards actually madea great contribution to winning with his fellow player Garner.
（5）a. T hat simple incident was enough to form the basis of the very real phobia from which Joyce
was to suffer throughout the years which followed.（C9W 760）
b. I n 1974, at the age of 22, he joined Somerset, and with Joel Garner was to play a very
important part in their one-day successes between 1979 and 1983.（ABR 599）

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3.3. Specified Time of Occasion
Where the actualized FIP refers to an occasion which took place at a particular time in thepast, the was/were to-infinitive construction accompanied with a phrase expressing the specified
time of occasion is likely to be construed as being actualized. Consider:（6）a. I n 1928 Pare Lorentz was to put the question ‘Who goes to the movies in America?’ and his
answer was ‘Everybody.’（CLS 118）b. I n 1547, after the English victory over the Scots at Pinkie, Huntly was to say ‘I hold well withthe marriage, but I like not this wooing’.（AE4 704）
At the beginning of the sentence, specifying the time of occasion in the past induces the hearer tointerpret the described situation as being factual. In other words, the specific past time reference
places the situation actualized in the past. Furthermore, as（5b）clearly shows, the more thedistance between the speech time and the time of the occasion described in the sentence, the lesslikely it is that the occasion is interpreted as being potential, or a plan or possibility in the past. And
so in these cases, the sentence is highly likely to be interpreted as being actualized.
3.4. Adverbs
3.4.1. Adverbs of Factuality
Another type of strong triggers for the target construction to be construed as denoting an
actualized situation will be adverbs of factuality, elapsed time, frequency, and feeling/impression. Of
interest here is that there is a common denominator among these types of adverbs in that they put
down the situation at a particular time through a pragmatic construing process. In other words,
along with the meaning of the was/were to-infinitive construction, these adverbs direct the hearer’s
attention to a particular time in the past with the grammatical tense of the was/were to-infinitive
construction. First of all, my corpus investigation will be made into adverbs of factuality, such as inreality, predictably and in actuality.
（7）a. Legend has it that it was here that Yusuf met his death beneath the hooves of his enemies’
steeds; here also that El Cid received a fatal wound. In reality, Yusuf was not even present
and El Cid was to live for several more years.（ASW 388-9）b. P redictably, the designer charm of ’60s Italy was to be rudely interrupted by Law and Baker.
（B1L 376）
c. I n actuality, it was the poorer peasants who grumbled louder and suffered more from taxation,− 22 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English

as Yakovlev was to discover for himself a year later in Tambov Gubernia.（A64 713）
The common semantic function among these adverbial phrases is to direct the hearer’s attention to
factuality rather than potentiality or possibility of the situation. In reality in（7a），for example, isdescribed as being a contrast to legend which is placed at the beginning of the previous sentence.
The first sentence in（7a）states that EL Cid was fatally wounded but the second sentence denies it
and implies his better physical condition. This pragmatic contrast made between legend and inreality reflects a shift in viewpoint from nonfactual（or uncertain）to factual situations. This
viewpoint shift will induce the actualized FIP interpretation in the second sentence. In（7b），theadverb predictably seems to mean “as we have predicted before the following situation actuallyoccurs”. Thus, the situation with was/were to-infinitive construction preceded by this adverb isvirtually certain to refer to an actualized situation. This sentence is likely to mean that the designer
charm of ’60s Italy was actually and rudely interrupted by Law and Baker. In（7c）the main clauseis preceded by in actuality and this adverbial phrase clearly strengthens the effect that the clause isa factual and actualized situation in the past, and then the second clause（i.e. as Yakovlev was todiscover ...）also attracts the same interpretation concerning actuality.
3.4.2. Adverbs of a Point after Some Time Elapses
My corpus investigation suggests that the actualized FIP interpretation in the was/were toinfinitive construction is highly likely to be given with adverbial phrases denoting a point after sometime elapses, such as later, eventually, subsequently, in due course and finally. These adverbials
might be classed as one of the strongest triggers for the actualized FIP interpretation. They could
commonly indicate a shift in viewpoint from time1（e.g. past1 as a preliminary state）to time2（e.g.
past2 as a resultant state）and have a semantic feature of highlighting the result of some event or
action. The result of an event or action is less likely to refer to a plan, arrangement, necessity or
possibility but rather to indicate a factual or actualized situation. Therefore, a was/were to-infinitive
construction co-occurring with this type of adverbial is more likely to denote an actualized FIP, as in:（8）a. Later, much later, Kelly was to reflect on how lucky she had been that day.（BP7 1643）
b. T
 he Oxford lectures which he gave at this time were eventually to be published as The
Discarded Image, perhaps the most completely satisfying and impressive book he everpublished.（A7C 1038）
c. Last year for instance Barton Shield skipper Colm McCarroll brought Wilson, Winston andKehoe junior, the men who were subsequently to win the National youth title, into his line-up− 23 −

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and Derry battled their way through to the quarter-finals before losing to Belvoir Park.（K2D
2344）
d. I n due course Dundee’s shipyards were to build Shackleton’s Terra Nova and anotherexploration vessel which, after years moored in the Thames, is now back home on display —Scott’s Discovery.（EF2 243）e. Yet, as it happened, he was registering well above par that evening, for three of the four ideas
he had formulated were finally to prove wholly correct.（HWM 2660）
The adverbial phrase later, much later in（8a）implies that a situation actually happens after anothersituation. As Duffley（1992）and Duffley and Enns（1996）correctly point out, senses of the toinfinitive will be broadly separated into two major subcategories, viz., ‘prospect’ and ‘actualization’,
which are related to one another by means of image-schema transformations denoted by theinfinitive marker to. The infinitive marker to is derived from the preposition to and “the meaning of
the preposition to, which evokes the infinitive’s event as the end-point of a movement”（Duffley andEnns 1996：224）．In other words, the situation denoted by the to-infinitive is basically understood tobe realized in the future as the end-point of a movement in time. Basically to-infinitives refer to the
speaker’s prospect of a situation denoted by this grammatical construction. The speaker’s prospect,however, is sometimes backgrounded and the sense of realization is foregrounded under somesyntactic constructions（e.g. I managed to arrive at the meeting in time）．In（8a），the was toinfinitive construction preceded by later, much later directs attention from prospect to actualization.
This sentence implies that Kelly actually thought deeply about her good luck after a long time. The
adverb eventually in（8b）emphasizes the result of his lectures at Oxford actually led to publishinga book entitled The Discarded Image. The actuality of publishing this book is more likely to behighlighted by the part of “the most completely satisfying and impressive book he ever published”.
（8c）refers to golf players. The adverb subsequently in this sentence makes reference to theresultant situation in the past, and triggers the interpretation of the situation that Wilson, Winston
and Kehoe junior actually won the National youth title after Colm McCarroll added those three men
to his team. Furthermore, the adverbial phrase in due course in（8d），used with the were toinfinitive construction, introduces the factual interpretation that Dundee’s shipyards actually built
Shackleton’s Terra Nova and another exploration vessel, because this adverbial phrase can direct
attention to some time in the future after another situation occurred. Finally, the adverb finally issomewhat semantically different from the other adverbials we have observed in that this adverb
focuses on the resultant state itself forcefully and is less likely to imply the preliminary state before
the result. In（8e），the adverb finally puts an emphasis on the actuality of the situation denoted by− 24 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English

the latter clause of the sentence, “three of the four ideas he had formulated were finally to provewholly correct”.
3.4.3. Adverbs of Positive Frequency
Adverbs denoting positive frequency can also be a semantic trigger for the actualizationinterpretation in the was/were to-infinitive construction. However, even though the situation isinterpreted as being actualized, that is less likely to be construed as the future in the past, as in:（9）a. Porter and Paisley were frequently to be found leading such marches and various Ministers
for Home Affairs found themselves being denounced by loyalists at Orange rallies.（AD2 44）b. B
 efore she had time to protest he had locked the doors and, removing his glasses as he went,
walked briskly over the road. He narrowly missed what he thought was a lamp post but
turned out to be a tree, and reached for where the handle was usually to be found on a front
door. To his surprise it was there.（ASS 639-641）
c. Contented as she was with the house, Virginia was always to cast a glance over her shoulder
at her sister, living just five miles away at Charleston.（ANP 661）
d. E
 very night — in that twilight time which comes between being awake and falling asleep —Sylvia was to lie in bed and spend some minutes concentrating on relaxing her mind and her
body and establishing a regular breathing pattern.
The positive frequency adverbs such as frequently, always and usually indicate that the situation
actually has occurred many times at short intervals before and guarantee the actuality of thesituation used with the was/were to-infinitive construction. However, a was/were to-infinitive
construction co-occurring with this type of adverb is not to be construed as being FIP, because thosepositive frequency adverbs direct attention to intermittent occurrences of the situation rather than
the future situation seen from the past. Example（9a）guarantees that Porter and Paisley wereactually and frequently found many times in short intervals, but is not likely to express the future
situation in the past. An analogous comment holds for（9b）and（9c）．Example（9d）is a little
different from（9a-c）in its syntactic sequence. The adverbial phrase every night is placed awayfrom the was to-infinitive construction, but this adverbial semantically affects the interpretation of
the target construction, Sylvia was to lie in bed and spend some minutes. This clause, modified by
the preceding adverbial phrases, expresses Sylvia’s habit in the past rather than her plan,arrangement, necessity or possibility in the past. The target construction has an interpretation of
actualization through this construal process.
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3.4.4. Adverbs of Feeling/Impression
Adverbs expressing feeling or impression can be a trigger for FIP interpretation as well. This
will be because a particular feeling never occurs without a causal actual occurrence. In other words,
adverbs expressing feeling or impression at the beginning of a sentence are necessarily followed by
the causal situation in particular when the situation is in the past.
（10）a. S adly, Z2033 was to suffer a minor accident even before the aircraft had left Staverton.（CLU
1295）
b. W
 hen the Mirror’s expose was published, Marshall was arrested and we gave police theclearest visual proof of her crime. Amazingly, she was to get away with it. Far from acting on
our evidence, the police seemed more concerned to discredit it.（CH1 8049-51）
c. This was the part he had dreamt of night after night in that living room and now —astoundingly — it was to come true in the birthplace of Shakespeare with a great company
all around his son.（CL2 1828）
In（10a），the adverb sadly at the beginning of the sentence entails that something that brings
about this negative feeling has occurred. In other words, this negative feeling adverb and thefollowing sentence are connected with an-effect-and-cause relationship. This causal relationship,
which is pragmatically communicated, gives rise to the interpretation of an actualized future in thepast. In（10b），“she was to get away with it” will be construed as an actualized FIP. The first
sentence in（10b）describes the past situation where Marshall was arrested and the speakers gave
police definitive evidence to keep her in jail. The adverb amazingly at the beginning of the second
sentence suggests that something that is contrary to prediction actually happened. That is why thisadverb might be enriched in meaning as being “amazingly, however”. And therefore, the situation
expressed by “she was to get away with it” will be construed as being actualized.（10c）will be aclearer example to verify the close relationship between adverbs of feeling and the actualized FIP
interpretation. The first clause before the adverb astoundingly suggests the content of the clause iswhat was imagined. The second clause, placed after this adverb, is more likely to be expected as
being interpreted as an actualized FIP. Indeed, the clause is started with the phrase “it was to cometrue”.
3.5. Paradoxical Discourse Patterns
The paradoxical discourse pattern expressed by “a factual situation in the past + but + thesentence subject + was/were to-infinitive construction” will be a strong trigger for the FIP− 26 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English

interpretation. Basically, the first clause/sentence is described as factual in the past and the second
clause/sentence accompanied with was/were to-infinitive is depicted as being contrary to the content
of or expected from the first clause but being factual and actualized.2）Consider:（11）a. On average workers’ pay in Belorussia had dropped by 1922 to 73.5 per cent of the 1913
level, but in 1923 it was to rise to 112.5 per cent.（A64 104）b. H
 is plan came to nothing, but successive railway engineers were to divert and canalize many
miles of river as a by-product of their endeavours.（AS4 986）
c. Sancho meanwhile had himself crowned king of Leon, and thus came to rule over the mostextensive kingdom in the whole of Christian Spain. However, his success was to be shortlived.（ASW 181-2）
Through（11a-c），the two clauses or sentences are logically connected with a paradoxical
conjunction or adverb, i.e. but or however. In other words, the two situations expressed by theseclauses or sentences are logically comparative to each other, and thus each of them must be in thesame situation to be a target of comparison. Example（11a）describes the fluctuation of average
workers’ pay in Belorussia in the early 1900’s. The first clause refers to the situation in 1922, or afactuality in the past, and thus the second clause, as a comparison of the first one, must depict thefactual and actualized situation concerning the average worker’s pay in 1923. This is the construal
process for the actualized FIP of was/were to-infinitive in（11a）．In（11b），the first clausedescribes the fact in the past that a plan returned to nothing, and the second one narrates theresultative future trends after the plan is lost. The first clause and the second clause are connected
paradoxically in their logic and swiftly in time. And therefore the second clause must be interpreted
as being actualized future in the past. The adverb however in（11c）connects the first and second
sentences paradoxically. The first sentence refers to Sancho’s thriving in the past, and the second
sentence, introduced by the adverb meaning paradox, describes his short-term success as a result.
This logical sequence requires the was/were to-infinitive to be construed as being actualized FIP.
3.6. Direct Speech
Pragmatic/encyclopedic knowledge can be another trigger for FIP interpretation. First of all,my corpus investigation suggests that direct speech, “usually signaled by being enclosed in quotation
marks”（Quirk et al. 1022），co-occurring with the was/were to-infinitive construction will be a2）

Declerck（2006：670）mentions that a factual interpretation of was to-inﬁnitive is subject to the preceding clause.
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trigger for FIP, as in：（12）a. ‘Battles are won primarily in the hearts of men,’ Monty was to write of Alamein twenty-fiveyears on.（AMC 544）b. H arry Tomalin was to write（erroneously）‘The Club does not buy bonds and the market islimited’ and he offered to find a buyer at ‘about half face value’.（AMY 882）c. ‘The last stages of the Third Battle of Ypres’, John Buchan was to write, ‘were probably the
muddiest combats ever known in the history of war.’（CLX 1558）
The parts of direct speech（e.g. ‘Battles are won primarily in the hearts of men’）in（12a）and（12b）pragmatically indicate that these parts are actually written. In（12a），“twenty-five years on”
emphasizes that the fact that Monty actually wrote this sentence. Furthermore, “erroneously” in（12b）logically suggests that the content of this direct narration was actually written and found to
be incorrect later. The part of direct speech will be generally grasped so concretely and factuallythat the action of the utterance（e.g. write）itself is more likely to be construed as being actualized.
While（12a）and（12b）have another trigger in the sentence（i.e. twenty-five years on in（12a）anderroneously in（12b）），（12c）does not have other triggers for actualized FIP than the direct speech,
but it is clear that this sentence expresses actualized FIP.
My corpus-based research does not indicate that was/were to say seems to express actualized
FIP without another trigger even though the verb phrase has a direct speech object. The
comparison between（13a）and（13b）shows that the actualized FIP interpretation is less likely to
be given to（13b）in which the adverb later is omitted.
（13）a. Leonard was to say later, ‘Lorca ruined my life!’（AP0 601）
b. Leonard was tosay, ‘Lorca ruined my life!’
3.7. Semantic Properties of Infinitival Clauses
Let us now turn to look at grammatical aspects and semantic properties of infinitives in thetarget construction.

My corpus investigation suggests that the infinitival clause in the target

construction has various types of syntactic variants, as in:（14）a. By an unfortunate twist of fate, Sunderland were toexperience the full might of the cousins
playing in the same team.（=（4a））
b. P orter and Paisley were frequently to be found leading such marches and various Ministers− 28 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English

for Home Affairs found themselves being denounced by loyalists at Orange rallies.（=（9a））
c. Japan’s flight from her Eden was to be astonishingly swift. And it was reflected in thegrowing size of her railway stations.（AR0 1561-2）
Examples（14a-c）consists of three syntactic variants, i.e. an active voice infinitive in（14a），apassive voice infinitive in（14b），be + predicative use of adjective in（14c）．As we can easily findout in these three variants, the syntactic variants of the to-infinitive do not seem to have an effect on
the use of the target construction.
Non-actualized future-in-the-past denoted by the target construction generally refers to a planor arrangement, necessity, or possibility in the past. The common semantic properties（plan,necessity and possibility）among the was to-infinitive construction in（15a-c）denote non-actuality or
potentiality of the situation, as in:（15）a. A few days before Michael came home, our daughter-in-law Pippa came to stay for a few
days, bringing Emily, who was to go to aboarding-school in Yorkshire.（B1Y 1239）（was togo = plan）
b. A
 t the end of the patrol I was to submit a comprehensive report of our findings.（H0C 1025）（was to submit = necessity）
c. It is an additional pleasure to recognise his prophetic power of divining where the best art
was to be found.（A04 208）
（was to be found = possibility）
The plan in the past denoted by the was/were to-inf. construction is basically concerned with aformal schedule. As with the usage of is to-infinitive construction expressed in the present tense,
Leech（2003：70）explains：“［I］
t is used in rather formal written style, and is used to refer tosomething that is going to happen in the future as a result of a plan or decree, normally by someauthority other than the subject of the sentence”（Leech 2003：70）．By analogy with this core
meaning of is to-infinitive construction, the plan sense expressed by the was/were to-infinitive
construction is thought to be a rather formal schedule（c.f. The prime minister is to visit Paris next
Monday）．And this formal schedule sense implied by the was/were to-infinitive construction gives
an influence to the interpretation of actualized/non-actualized FIP, as in:（16）a. Anna was to become a very good working dog, qualifying CDex and winning good show
placements including Best of Breed at Crufts in 1939.（AR5 120）b. Hebe was to win the Bitch CC in the 1976, 1977 and 1978 Nationals.（AR5 691）
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c. Thus he and Barbarossa were to become close friends as well as working together, for the
next ten years.（ASW 1017）
The was to-infinitive constructions in（16a-c）are less likely to be interpreted as expressing nonactualized FIP, in particular ones denoting a plan in the past, because the situations communicatedby these infinitival clauses are not formally scheduled in advance. Rather, these infinitival clauses arelikely to convey an implication of uncontrollability of the situation. Furthermore, as I argued in
section 3.3., adverbs of specified time of occasion such as in 1939 in（16a），in the 1976 ... Nationals
in（16b）and for the next ten years in（16c）will fortify the actualized FIP interpretation here.
3.8. Adverbs of Strong Negation（17）a. Chapman was never to manage his most illustrious capture.（B0L 730）
b. T he remaining vacancies were not to be filled at all, so that the new House of Commons wasto be significantly smaller than the old.（FU3 236）c. S carcely a churchyard was to be found but a number of those poor innocent birds were thus
barbarously treated.（CB6 1278）
Adverbs of strong negation such as never and not at all will be strong triggers for the was/were to-infinitive construction to be interpreted as being not actualized. This type of triggers should
be differentiated from the other triggers for actualized FIP interpretation in that it induces thetarget construction to refer to the result of a process, but never expresses the process is actualized
but denotes non-actualized. Therefore, someone might state that these adverbs should not be
categorized as triggers for the “actualized” FIP, but they also entice the situation expressed by thetarget construction to denote the unfulfilled result of a process.（17a）suggests that Chapman tried
to acquire his greatest possession but he could not. Here a non-actualized situation through a process
is guaranteed.（17b）indicates that the remaining vacancies were not filled after some various
attempts.（17c）refers to the negation of the possibility that a situation occurred. The negative
adverb scarcely is put at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize the meaning of negation.
4. Future-in-the-Past Use in Non-restrictive Infinitival Relative Clauses
The actualized future-in-the-past is generally denoted by the was/were to-infinitive
construction and a modal auxiliary would（see section 2）．However, this meaning can be expressed− 30 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English

by another construction, i.e. non-restrictive infinitival relative clauses（henceforth, NIRCs），whichare a syntactic variant of is to-infinitive construction（cf. Akiyama（2004））．The NIRC denotes
similar senses to the was/were to-infinitive structure, as in：（18）a. Turning to the White Paper, to be published before the next party conference, he said it would
set out the Conservatives’ agenda for the rest of this century.（A50 623）［to be published =plan or arrangement］
b. C an the fundamentally religious ritual be the new foundation of a piece of modern art, to beevaluated according to purely aesthetic criteria?（A6B 1071）［to be evaluated = necessity/
appropriateness］
c. In front of the Temple was the court of the priests, to be entered only by the male priestly
caste.（ACL 185）
［to be entered = possibility］
In addition to those meanings listed above, the NIRCs also denote the future-in-the-past, as in:（19）a. He reportedly would sit for hours in a depressive silence, to be broken by a harangue on his
pet hates, which included sherry drinkers and those by the name of Hambly.（B0G 507）b. T he Fairies Hill Lock Cut and a colliery basin emerge together on the right midway between
the railway viaduct and another around the following bend, to be followed soon after by afurther bridge for a dismantled railway, such was the proliferation of lines in this area.（BMF983）
In（19a），the NIRC（i.e. to be broken by a harangue on his pet hates）can be paraphrased by afinite relative clause（which was to be broken ...）．In this sentence, the speaker looks back to themoment of “a depressive silence” in a past situation, and describes “this depressive silence” as being
broken in the future in the following past situation. In（19b），the NIRC（to be followed soon after
by a further bridge for a dismantled railway）can be also paraphrased by a finite relative clause（which was to be followed ...）
．The speaker of（19b）pays attention to the situation in a past when “theFairies Hill Lock Cut and a colliery basin emerge”, and describes how the Fairies Hill Lock Cut andthe colliery basin was later followed by a further bridge for a dismantled railway.
5. Triggers for Non-actualization Interpretation
So far we have observed the linguistic contexts by which the was/were to-infinitive− 31 −

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construction is interpreted as being an actualized FIP. In this section, I will shed light on triggers for
non-actualization interpretation of the target construction.
5.1. Implication of Potentiality（20）a. T his turned out to be a list of policy options from which Mr Bush was to choose — with luckin time to unveil a complete plan in his ‘state of the union’ message on January 29th.（ABH
832）
b. W
 e were planning a visit to Hong Kong for several months, as Michael was to be a visiting
professor in the University there.（B1Y 1146）c. T he couple agreed on a further weekend outing together. Charles was to play tennis withAnn and she was to let him know when she was feeling upset. She also agreed to tell him
each evening about the sort of day she had had while he was at work. The therapist hoped
this would further improve their ease of communication.（B30 545-548）
The was/were to-infinitive construction is likely to have non-actualized FIP interpretation
when it occurs in the context implicating potentiality of the situation. The clause this turned out tobe alist of policy options in（20a），followed by from which Mr Bush was to choose, triggers for nonactualized FIP interpretation of the target construction. The clause this turned out to be alist directs
attention to the moment in the past when a particular fact turned out, and the relative clause fromwhich Mr Bush was to choose will refer to the possibility that Mr Bush could choose a policy option
from the list. And thus the target construction seems to express the non-actualized FIP. Moreover,the main clause of（20b），i.e. We were planning a visit to Hong Kong for several months, refers to a
result of the causal situation expressed by the subordinate clause of the sentence. In other words, aplan to visit Hong Kong is based on a schedule that Michael was going to be a visiting professor
there. The actualized FIP interpretation of the subordinate clause in（20b）will make it impossible
to understand the whole sentence, because the factual interpretation of the as-clause will also makethe sentence express a result rather than a reason. In（20c），the first sentence will make it clear forboth the infinitival clauses was to play tennis and was to let him know to be construed as nonactualized FIP. The first sentence in（20c）refers to a couples’ further weekend plan and thislinguistic context will be a strong trigger for the second sentence to be interpreted as being nonactualized FIP. The fourth sentence guarantees that this plan was not made by the couple
themselves but by the therapist. As we have seen in the previous section, Leech（2003：70）points
out that a plan or decree denoted by is/was to-infinitive construction is normally made by “some− 32 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English

authority other than the subject of the sentence”.
5.2. Adverbial Phrases of Condition
Adverbial phrases of condition will be another type of trigger for non-actualized FIP
interpretation. Conditional adverbials placed at the beginning of the sentence strongly induce thehearer to interpret the sentence as non-factual and the was/were to-infinitive construction is likely todenote non-actualized FIP, as in:（21）a. U nder the original deal, which was to expire on July 31, Japan was to guarantee a minimum
20 per cent market share for US chip manufacturers, but by mid-1991 the US makers werebeing restricted to only about 12 per cent of the market.（HL8 1271）
b. U
 nder the terms of the new bases agreement Clark Field was to be handed over to thearmed forces of the Philippines by Sept. 16, 1992, the date which the USA claimed marked
the expiry of the current agreement.（HL9 2547）
c. U
 nder the terms of the agreement, to be ratified by the Haitian parliament, Réné Théodore
was to be installed as Prime Minister as planned previously and was to prepare for Aristide’s
return.（HLG 482）
Example（21a）starts with the adverbial of condition, under the original deal, which is also modified
by the non-restrictive relative clause, which was to expire on July 31, and the main clause is highly
likely to be construed as being a non-factual/non-actualized situation. This is because a conditionrefers to “a situation that must exist before something else is possible or permitted”（Oxford
Dictionary of English）．Logically speaking, a situation to occur with a condition is less likely to beinterpreted as being factual without the context expressing the condition having been fulfilled. With
regard to（21b），the main clause with the target construction, Clark Field was to be handed over tothe armed forces of the Philippines by Sept. 16, 1992, refers to a plan or arrangement in the past,
because the realization of the situation expressed by this main clause is controlled by the terms ofthe new bases agreement. A similar comment holds for（21c）．The adverbial phrase under theterms of the agreement, modified by the infinitival clause to be ratified by the Haitian parliament,
refers to a condition which had not yet been made official formally by the government. Thus themain clause preceded by this adverbial phrase necessarily refers to a plan or arrangement in thepast.

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5.3. Negation/Cancellation of Actualization of the Situation
As we observed in section 3.1, the was/were to-infinitive construction can never be construed
as being factual even though its grammatical subject is a proper noun. Example（22a）starts withthe expression “rumours were spreading”, and the sentence subject rumours refers to an uncertain
or non-factual situation. An appositive clause of the noun rumours（i.e. that Mozart was to marry
Constanze）also necessarily makes reference to a non-factual situation in the past. The sentence
subject rumours can be analyzed as negating the actuality of the was to-infinitive construction in（22a）．In（22b），the inserted phrase at the end of the sentence if possible functions as acancellation of the interpretation of the target construction as being actualized. Without this phrase
it would not be obvious that the target construction refers to a non-actualized situation.
（22）a. R umours were spreading that Mozart was to marry Constanze.（=（3a））
b. T he British position was simpler; Russia was to be kept away from the Straits and AustriaHungary was to ensure this, if possible.（CM6 1619）
The following examples illustrate that the non-actuality interpretation of the situation
expressed by the target construction is fortified by the paradoxical relationship between the clausesof the sentence. In（23a）the target construction were to be polite expresses necessity in the past,and non-actuality of the situation is strengthened by the following clause（i.e. but he did awaywith...），because this clause expresses the paradoxical meaning for the actuality of the situation
denoted by the first clause. In other words, the second clause in（23a）cancels the possibility for the
first clause to be interpreted as being actualized FIP. Furthermore, the first sentence in（23b）mentions a plan concerning children’s day centers and thus the situation denoted by the target
construction（i.e. the number of subsidised child-minding places was to be increased）of the second
sentence is also highly likely to refer to a plan in the past. The latter clause preceded by theparadoxical conjunction but makes a reference to the reason why the number of places in thechildren’s day center would be halved. In other words, the but-clause negates the possibility of theactualized FIP interpretation of the target construction.
（23）a. Of course, the letters were to be polite, but he did away with all the pompous formalities
reserved for potentates.（CJR 776）
b. I t contained a plan to halve the number of places in children’s day centres from 1989. The
number of subsidised child-minding places was to be increased, but this would not provide
the group experience that is such a valuable aspect of day centre provision.（CRS 224-5）− 34 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English（24）When he heard that a role in Papillon would be especially created for him, he was not only
flattered but asked for（and got）a salary of $1.25 million.（McQueen received $2 million.）
Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman were to be billed always on the same line.
The target construction were to be billed in example（24）is also likely to be interpreted as being
non-actualized FIP.（24）is concerned with Dustin Hoffman’s salary and the bracketed second
sentence states the difference in salaries between Steven McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. And thethird sentence implies the counter-factual situation in the past that McQueen and Hoffman’s salaries
should have been on the same line but actually they were billed differently. The actualized FIP
interpretation of the target construction in（24）would make the discourse understood illogically.
6. Ambiguous Examples
While we have sought for semantic/pragmatic triggers for actualized/non-actualized FIP
interpretation, my corpus investigation clarified that many sentences do not contain these kinds oftriggers we have observed in themselves and thus construing the actuality of the target construction
is sometimes vague. The judgement of the actualized/non-actualized FIP interpretation, therefore, iscontingent on the broader linguistic contexts, as in：（25）a. Tyrone was to search for evidence of further concealed Coal Measures.（B2J 547）
b. Enormous areas of eastern Germany were to be handed over to Poland.（BN2 689）
These two sentences above seem to be vague in that the was to-infinitive construction clearly
denotes actualized/non-actualized FIP due to the lack of triggers in the sentences.（25b），for
example, would be vague in actuality interpretation without the historical knowledge. This sentence,
however, is highly likely to be construed as being non-actualized FIP with the following linguistic
context:（26）While the Treaty as a whole was deeply humiliating to Germany, it was accepted for the mostpart with a sullen resignation and silent disgust. There was one section of the Treaty, however,that occasioned deep anger and resentment. Enormous areas of eastern Germany were to behanded over to Poland.（BN2 687-9）
The discourse of（26）clarifies that it was a section of the Treaty that enormous areas of eastern− 35 −

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Germany would be handed over to Poland. And this linguistic context urges the hearer tounderstand the sentence（25b）as being non-actualized.
7. Was/Were To Have + Past Participle Construction
As linguists point out, the ambiguity of the interpretation in was/were to-infinitive
construction can be removed by using was/were to have + past participle construction（seeHewings 2013：unit 14B; Huddleston Pullum 2003：206; Larreya 2003：31; Swan 2016：section 43）．
This construction definitely expresses non-actualized situations. The BNC contains 124 examples of
was/were to have + past participle construction and shows that all the examples express nonactualized situations.3）In addition, the corpus illustrates that out of 124 examples of was/were to have
+ past participle construction, five examples are used in if-clauses.
（27）a. I was to have broken my leg attempting to get from bed to the top of the stars.（B2E 1209）b. S he realised what a relief it was to have formulated that simple statement and how, having
done so, the power of it to horrify her was already lessening.（H8B 1652）
8. Conclusion
The purpose of this paper was to give a full and valid specification of the linguistic contexts inwhich the was/were to-infinitive construction in English is used on the basis of corpus data and tocast light upon the semantic/pragmatic mechanism by which the target construction denotes a senseof（non-）actualization. The present paper has pointed out that there are eight main triggers for thetarget construction to be construed as being actualized. First of all, corpus data indicates that proper
noun subjects can be a weak trigger for inducing FIP interpretation. Secondly, the causal relationshipbetween two situations was found to be an appropriate trigger for the actualized FIP interpretation
to be chosen in the target construction. And we found that the causal relationship between two
situations was described by some syntactic patterns. Thirdly, my corpus survey revealed that where
the actualized FIP refers to an occasion which took place at a particular time in the past in was/were
to-infinitive construction accompanied with a phrase expressing the specified time of occasion is
likely to be construed as being actualized. With regard to the fourth trigger, adverbs of factuality,
I used a tag sequence of “*_VBD *_TO0 have *_VVN” for my enquiry into this syntactic pattern. The
grammatical tag *_VBD stands for was or were, the past form of be-verb, *_TO0 for inﬁnitival marker to, and *_VVN for past participle of verbs except for be, do, and have.

3）− 36 −On Actuality Denoted by the Was/Were To-infinitive Construction in English

elapsed time, frequency, and feeling/impression were found to be strong triggers for the target
construction to be construed as denoting an actualized situation. Furthermore, our corpus-based
study suggests that paradoxical discourse patterns, direct speech, semantic properties of infinitival
clauses and adverbs of strong negation can be triggers for actualized FIP interpretation. In addition
to the target construction, we found that non-restrictive infinitival relative clauses also denoted
actualized FIP. Concerning triggers for non-actualization interpretation, my corpus survey indicatedthat implication of potentiality, adverbial phrases of condition and negation/cancellation of
actualization of the situation could be contexts by which non-actualization interpretation is caused in
the target construction. To enhance the validity of the discoveries and hypotheses in this paper moreincontrovertibly, we will have to await further research.
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