"was to have been" grammar

The trip was to have seen him meet President Hu Jintao
這句相信很多人都看不明，但若寫成以下這樣：


The trip would have seen him meet President Hu Jintao
這句可以使我們更明白

以下是分析，was to的現在式是be to，be to與will同樣可以表達未來的事情，但be to比will肯定程度大多了很多，並且有鐡定，已可排好的意思，如：

I am to visit London比I will visit London的早已安排好的語氣更強

而be to的過去式當然是：was to，或were to

而was to +have +p.p 或would + have + p.p則是表示，與過去事實相反的想像

如：If he had known it, he would have told it to you. （假如他知道，他就已告訴你；但事實他不知道，也沒有告訴）

所以 The trip was to have seen him meet President Hu Jintao是表示：本應早已安排好會見胡錦濤，但卻沒有實現的意思。



２）was to have been，和was to have seen其實的分別只是been，seen；像你的句子：was to have been是＂會成為（但沒有成真）＂之意，was to have seen則是＂會去見證某事發生（也沒有成真）＂

如：The construction of the new pool was to have been completed last month, but the long spell of rainy weather has postponed the opening until October.

　再講The trip was to have seen him meet President Hu Jintao的seen在這裏的意思是＂見證某事發生，牛津高階第六版，在see條下第１６條，就有一例：

　Next Year sees the centenary of Verdi's death.（明年是威爾地逝世一百週年）

３）see, watch, look, hear等感觀動詞，其後可用原形動詞(不帶to)，也可以用v-ing動詞，如：

　　I saw him drink water.

　　所以，The trip was to have seen him meet President Hu Jintao
　　可以譯做：
　　　直譯：是次行程會見證他與主席胡錦濤會面（但沒有發生）
　　　意譯：是次行程會與胡錦濤會面（但沒有發生）


希望幫到你！

　　
３）


2012-09-07 17:46:35 補充：
因沒有發生，所以有些人翻譯時，會加上”本應”

The trip - which was to have been Leung's first since he took office on July 1 - was to have seen him meet President Hu Jintao, who will deliver a keynote address to the world's political and business leaders tomorrow. 這長句不單你不明，我也覺得有點錯用了英文句子的結構。 先講講用 x – yyy – z用” – “這符號一般是表示附註yyy一些讀者要知關於x的東西，而主要的內容或現在要講的是x + z的，例如Obama – being raised in Indonesia and Hawaii – ran for presidency….或ZGT – refers to the super turbo charger of the engine in the sports car – is a registered trade mark by XXX。以上句子內容未必正確，想表達的的是在”-“和”-“之間其實無需按句子正確或完整的文法寫的-可以只是片語或列項也可以的，反而x 與z的主詞受詞動詞等句子結構則必要正確文法編排。 你的例句x = The tripyyy = which was….Jul 1z = was to have seen… 原則上把yyy抽走後x + z應該仍要組成完整和正確文法的句子才成： The trip was to have been seen him meet President Hu Jintao…接後who…至尾的子句只是附加描寫Predisent Hu是誰或他代表甚麼所以不是主句。這樣看來全句的結構其實甚多錯處。 除了你都看出meet是用錯字，應該是meeting。另外作者似乎想玩層層疊地用was to have…作為相關詞以表達leung的trip的特性，但卻在編排上似乎砌錯了。 按作者似乎想說的組合是：The trip was the first since Leung took office on July 1The trip was to meet President Hu Jintao President Hu Jintao will delivery a “speech” to the world’s political and business leaders tomorrow. 就以上列出的層次其實連起來已經可以了The trip - first since Leung took office on July 1 – was to meet President Hu Jintao, who will deliver a keynote address to the world’s political and business leaders. was to have been其實很難用得到，意思是包括形容的東西已成過去(was)加上意義上也要是過氣的(have been)才會這樣寫。要問Leung’s first trip since July 1這是否過去？(從記者在trip已發生了的角度寫是was，但是否過氣了的事件(to have been)則不能同意；第二次再出現The trip was to have seen him meet(ing) President Hu Jintao就更加不是過氣的意思。反而如果要表示他見President是甚為公式化的行為並不特別：The trip of meeting President Hu Jintao was to have been of little significance none other than a formality.

We can summarize the verb forms in Grammar:-
(1)Of Hypothetical Condition like the verb(was) is in Simple Past Tense or Subjunctive meaning Present Time; As for Present Time meaning The Future Time=tomorrow.
(2)How to use "was to have been/seen"?Since the future perfect tense is used here by the word (tomorrow),this tense is formed by the Future tense of "have"+ a past participle. It is used to indicate an action that will be completed before a certain time in the future.,associated with the preposition by.From "the trip" hence we've:-will have been;will have seen;
will have been(a trip)by Leung since July;
will have seen( President) by Leung in/on tomorrow.
(3)To avoid one sentence two verb:-,The Infinitive,Present Participle,and Verbal Noun are used.--ing form of a verb with" meeting "as present participle should be used;where the (-ing) had left out.

2012-09-06 17:43:56 補充：
If exaggerated on usage on have been,then"The trip have been of no significance but a ceremonious observance."