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As we all know "to be continued" refers to the future. However for some reason (I don't know why) we do not use "to be going to + verb" for this.

Sarah to take to the stage tonight

What does this usage mean? Why we don't use "is going to" ?

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  • Your example is not grammatical, so the question doesn't make any sense. The correct expression would be "he is going to be retired" (although you can optionally drop the "going", and it will be inferred by the reader).
    – Christi
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 15:05
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    What does to be continued have to do with the rest of the question?
    – Daniel
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 15:06
  • Wow. This edit totally changes the question.
    – Mark Beadles
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 15:17
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    @MarkBeadles Sorry about that. I would ask exactly this.
    – moses
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 15:19

1 Answer 1

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"Sarah to take to the stage tonight" is an example of headlinese. In headlinese, the type of informal speech used in newspaper headlines, forms of "to be" are traditionally omitted.

This technique is not used in normal discourse between people.

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  • It has the same usage of to be continued ?
    – moses
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 15:23
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    I would guess "to be continued" comes from movie serials in the first half of the 20th century, so it was originally headlines. It has since become an idiom. Edit ... looks like I was wrong; it was used in serials in magazines long before that.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 15:30

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