Will Vs be going to
Many resources say that people use will or be going to when talking about the future. But what’s the difference?
We use will when we think about:
- possibilities and make a prediction.
- options and make a decision
We often make a decision to go somewhere. Then we go there, moving through space. Then we are there.
We talk about time the same way we talk about space. We make a decision to do something. Then we move through time until it happens in the future.
I’m going to ( = not finished now) do something ( = next step).
The next step is sometime in the future. We don’t need to say when it is going to happen.
Subject | be going to | Verb | Object | Time | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
She | is going to | wait. | She’s going to wait. | ||
I | am going to | watch | TV | all day. | I’m going to watch TV all day. |
He | isn’t going to | drink | coffee | today. | He isn’t going to drink coffee today. |
We can also use be (am, are, is) + going to for predictions based on clear evidence.
These things are controlled by laws of the universe. There are no other possibilities.
He’s going to fall off!
She doesn’t have an umbrella. She’s going to get wet.
Note
When people use be going to the words going to sometimes get blended together into gonna.
Complete the sentences with will or be going to
How did you go?
The meanings of these structures are similar, but they are different. In some situations you can use will or be going to, either expression fits. But, in some situations it makes sense to use one but not the other.
If you’d like to go over them again you can review information on will.
And to better understand be going to, take another look at be -ing.