Skip to main content

be to + infinitive: I am to …, you are to …, etc

Plans and arrangements: He is to visit Nigeria.​

We use this structure in a formal style to talk about official and other plans and arrangements.

  • The President is to visit Nigeria next month.
  • We are to get a 10 per cent wage rise in June.
  • I felt nervous because I was soon to leave home for the first time.

A perfect infinitive can be used to show that a planned event did not happen.

  • I was to have started work last week, but I changed my mind.

‘fate’: We were to meet again.​

Another use is to talk about things which are/were ‘hidden in the future’, fated to happen.

  • I thought we were saying goodbye for ever. But we were to meet again, many years later, under very strange circumstances.

Pre-conditions: If we are to get there in time …​

This structure is common in if-clauses, when the main clause expresses a pre-condition – something that must happen first if something else is to happen.

  • If we are to get there by lunchtime, we had better hurry.
  • He knew he would have to work hard if he was to pass his exam.

Orders: You are to do your homework.​

The structure is used to give orders, for example by parents speaking to children.

  • You are to do your homework before you watch TV.
  • She can go to the party, but she’s not to be back late.

be + passive infinitive: It is not to be removed.​

  • Be + passive infinitive is often used in notices and instructions.

    Grammar

    am/are/is (not) to be + past participle

    • This cover is not to be removed.

    Sometimes only the passive infinitive is used.

    • To be taken three times a day after meals. (on a medicine bottle)

  • Some other common expressions with be + passive infinitive:

    • There’s nothing to be done.
    • She was nowhere to be found.
    • I looked out of the window, but there was nothing to be seen.