Will/be going to

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PASTEL

#40785 Wed, 04 Aug 04 04:26 PM

English teachers have been teaching us that the idea and usage of 'will' equals to 'be going to' when I was in high school. But now, I'm afraid I disagree my teacher here. They are not that equivalent to each other.

#1. I am going to get married
#2. I will get married.

#1 says that the person is going to walk on the aisle in the near future and that person is preparing the wedding stuff right now or is going to prepare it soon, whereas #2 says that the person holds a postive attitude that she or he is the kind of person who prefer marriage rather than a single life.

#3. It is going to rain.
#4. It will rain.

#3 predicts that it's going to rain soon in 5 minutes or in half an hour, because there's thick gray sky over head and some related evidence that may cause rain. But #4 says that the raining will happen in a farther future time than within half an hour, and even farther.

#5. I will move to New York after I graduate from school.
#6. I am going to move to New York after I graduate from school.

This is another case. When you refer something to a future plan, both are used and carry the exactly the same meanig.

Do I make sense here? I need your comment. Thank you.

Pastel

PASTEL

Joined on Thu, Jul 1 2004

Regular Member (541)

Marriage, Weddings

praveenkbox

#40795 Wed, 04 Aug 04 05:27 PM

I think you are correct - will and going are different.
Let's wait for more mails and see whether it is correct or not.

praveen.

praveenkbox

Joined on Mon, Jul 12 2004

New Member (32)

CalifJim

#40839 Thu, 05 Aug 04 01:31 AM

An impressionistic view.

going to

hot, emotional, involved,
personal, subjective,
concrete, action, physical,
IMMEDIACY, physical evidence,
INEVITABILITY, non-contingency,
independent, "no matter what",
PLANS, INTENTIONS, DECISIONS,
warnings, threats

will

cool, cerebral, aloof,
impersonal, objective,
abstract, thought, mental,
EVENTUALITY, logical evidence,
CONDITIONALITY , contingency
("if", "unless", "when", "before", "after"),
dependent, "depending on",
SPONTANEITY,
assurances, promises, offers, refusals,
volunteering