Apr 18 2008
Differences between ‘Going to’ and ‘Will’ for Future
Simple Present Tense
1 Present time
2 Future time
1 Class starts at 9 a.m. every morning
2 The midterm exam takes place after about 10 days
Present Continuous
1 Present time
2 Future time
1 I am watching a movie just now
2 He is going to Jahra tomorrow
Modal
-will/shall
1 Future time
2 Promise
3 General truths
4 First conditional
5 Predictions
1 He will see her next week
2 I will help you
3 Camels will die if they don’t drink water
4 If I win the lottery, I will go for a long trip round the world
5 It will be a cold winter this year
Be + Going to
1 Intentions
2 Immediate future
3 Plans that were made earlier
4 Predictions
1 I’m going to buy that dress, even if I can’t afford it
2 It’s going to rain any minute
3 Are you going out later? No, I’m going to help my mother
4 It’s going to rain
Will or Going to
Use ‘will’ if the person decides to do something while he/she is speaking.
Use ‘going to’ if it was decided to do the action before the person started speaking
Source:
Grammar Dimensions 2. Heinle and Thompson.
Grammar Dimensions 3. Heinle and Thompson.
