They were going to eat this cake when John would come but he never did

[Uncanny]

Which is the correct one:

1. They were going to eat this cake when John would come but he never did.
2. They were going to eat this cake when John come but he never did.
3. They were going to eat this cake when John came but he never did.

 

[Tarheel]

I would use the third one. What happened to the cake?

 

[emsr2d2]

1 and 2 are incorrect. Only 3 is grammatically correct.

 

[Rover_KE]

Where did you find that exercise, @Uncanny?

 

[Uncanny]

Where did you find that exercise, @Uncanny?

I heard a sentence similar to 3 and was wondering if 1 and 2 might be possible too.

 

[emsr2d2]

I heard a sentence similar to 3 ...

What was that sentence? Who said it? What was the context?