{"id":1452,"date":"2020-04-09T16:14:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T20:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/?p=1452"},"modified":"2020-05-16T12:16:59","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T16:16:59","slug":"going-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/going-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Going to"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1) \u2018I\u2019m going to visit New York next year\u2019<\/p>

2) \u2018I think the Bears are going to win the game.\u2019<\/p>

3) \u2018I was going to go, but in the end I was too tired.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Going to is a future tense in English used to signify an intention (sentence (1) above), or a prediction (sentence (2) above), although it can also be used in the past tense to signify either of these ideas at a set moment in the past (sentence (3) above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we take at look at each use of \u2018going to\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Going to\u2019 for a future intention<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In terms of future tenses, going to is one of the most frequently used in English because it signifies a future intention, although stops short of representing an organized plan. For a plan, the present continuous would be used. Here is a comparison:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I\u2019m going to go to the cinema tomorrow if I can get a ticket.\u2019 (intention)<\/p>

\u2018I\u2019m going to the cinema tomorrow. I booked the tickets online.\u2019 (organized plan)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In essence, the present continuous sentence is a little more definitive because it suggests the plan had already been made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grammatically speaking, \u2018going to\u2019 is a present continuous form, so it is formed in the same way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

+ I\u2019m going to go to the cinema.<\/p>

– I\u2019m not going to go to the cinema.<\/p>

? Am I going to go to the cinema?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

 In terms of asking question about the future, English speakers use \u2018going to\u2019 and present continuous for future almost interchangeably:<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018What are you going to do this weekend?\u2019 \/ \u2018What are you doing this weekend?\u2019<\/p>

\u2018Are you going to go on vacation this year?\u2019 \/ \u2018Are you going on vacation this year?\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

\u2018Going to\u2019 for predictions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Going to\u2019 is also used to make strong predictions about the future, usually based on some current evidence:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I think the Bears are going to win the game.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In this case, the speaker is making a judgement based on the relative ability of the team in comparison to the team\u2019s opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grammatically speaking, \u2018going to\u2019 is still the present continuous, so everything is the same:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

+ The Bears are going to win the game.<\/p>

– The Bears aren\u2019t going to win the game.<\/p>

? Are the Bears are going to win the game.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Note that present continuous is not used to make predictions, as it would be confused with what is happening at that moment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I think the Bears are winning the game.\u2019 (is a report of the actual situation, rather than a prediction)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

However, \u2018will\u2019 is also used to make predictions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I think the Bears will win the game.\u2019<\/p><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Whereas \u2018going to\u2019 is used when there is evidence available, \u2018will\u2019 is more of a guess. Compare the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It is going to rain tomorrow.\u2019 (We have evidence in the form of a weather forecast)<\/p>

\u2018It will rain tomorrow.\u2019 (A prediction based on no hard evidence)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In reality, native speakers use the two above forms quite interchangeably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Was\/were going to\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Going to\u2019 can be used in the past to signify an intention or prediction at a moment in time in the past. Usually, that intention or prediction doesn\u2019t happen. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I was going to go to the cinema, but in the end, I was too tired so I stayed at home.\u2019<\/p>

\u2018I thought that the Bears were going to win the game, but I was wrong.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Gonna\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Note that many native English speakers replace \u2018going to\u2019 with a quasi-contraction \u2013 \u2018gonna\u2019. You won\u2019t find this word in the dictionary, but you will hear it constantly. In partcualry, listen out for it in songs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Are You Gonna Go My Way\u2019 \u2013 Lenny Kravitz<\/p>

\u2018A Change Is Gonna Come\u2019 \u2013 Same Cook<\/p>

\u2018A Hard Rain\u2019s A Gonna Fall\u2019 \u2013 Bob Dylan<\/p>

(I\u2019m Gonna) Love Me Again\u2019 \u2013 Elton John<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1) \u2018I\u2019m going to visit New York next year\u2019 2) \u2018I think the Bears are going to win the game.\u2019 3) \u2018I was going to go, but in the end I was too tired.\u2019 Going to is a future tense in English used to signify an intention (sentence (1) above), or a prediction (sentence (2) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[605,568,571],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-going-to","tag-vocabulary","tag-vocabulary-enhancement"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoing to - Linguix Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/going-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Going to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1) \u2018I\u2019m going to visit New York next year\u2019 2) \u2018I think the Bears are going to win the game.\u2019 3) \u2018I was going to go, but in the end I was too tired.\u2019 Going to is a future tense in English used to signify an intention (sentence (1) above), or a prediction (sentence (2) […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/going-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Linguix Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-09T20:14:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-16T16:16:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/66.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samantha Ruff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Samantha Ruff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/going-to\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/going-to\/\",\"name\":\"Going to - 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