ten minutes (part 2)

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

[color=indigo]1) It was ten minutes before the train left.
[color=blue]2) It was ten minutes before the train would leave.
[color=red]3) It was ten minutes before the train would have left.
[color=darkred]

  1. It was ten minutes before the train was supposed to leave.

Which of the above sentences could be used if
a) the speaker does not know if the train really did leave (on time) or not
b) the speaker knows that the train did not leave or did not leave on time?

Gratefully,
Navi.

2

‘It was’ is unrelated to anything in these standalone sentences.

3

‘It was’ simply intoduces the period of time. In other words it’s a so called ‘introductory it’,

In (1) there is a statement of recorded past and in (2) the aspect is one of looking back where ‘would’ suggests ‘was going to leave’. In (3) the tenses clash and do not work.