Will & going to

BBC Learning English
Grammar Challenge
Will & going to

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Welcome to Grammar Challenge from http://www.bbclearningenglish.com/. Let’s meet this week’s challenger:

Noppawan: My name is Noppawan, I come from Thailand, I came to London because I would like to study English for my Master degree and for my job in Thailand.

C: Well, hello Noppawan, thank you very much for helping us out with Grammar Challenge today. The first thing I want you to do is listen to this short conversation, you’ll hear a man and a woman. Is the man going to bed now or later?

Man: Hummm, I’m tired Mary. I think I’ll go up to bed now.
Woman: Ok dear. I’m just going to finish reading this chapter and then I’ll come right up.
Man: Ok. See you in a bit.

Callum: Ok, Nappowan so is the man going to bed now or later?

Nappowan: He’s going to bed now.

C: Exactly, he’s going to bed now. I want you to listen to a small part of that conversation again.

And this time, can you tell me how many different ways do the people use to talk about their future plans?

Man: I think I’ll go up to bed now.
Woman: I’m just going to finish reading this chapter.

Callum: So how many different ways do people talk about the future?

Nappowan: Two ways.

Callum: Ok. What are the two ways?

Nappowan: I’ll go to bed now.

Callum Ok, will.

Nappowan: I’m going to read this chapter.

C: Ok, exactly yes, we’ve heard 'will' and 'going to', exactly. And to tell us a little bit more about 'will' and 'going to' or future plans and decisions, here is Nuala.

Nuala: Today we’re looking at and contrasting two ways of talking about future plans, using 'going to' and 'will'. In an earlier program we saw that 'going to' can be used to talk about your intentions or decisions for the future. Listen:

- I’m going to get a new car.
- I’m going to visit my mother.
- I’m going to study medicine at university.

'Will', on the other hand, can be used to talk about future decisions made at the moment of speaking, for things that aren’t planned. Listen:

Diarmuid: I’ll go up to bed now.

So in this example, the speaker hasn’t planned to go to bed early but because he suddenly feels tired, he decides to go to bed. Mary, on the other hand, has planned to finish part of her book so says:

Mary: I’m just going to finish reading this chapter.

'Will' is a modal form and doesn’t change whichever the subject and is followed by the infinitive

without 'to'. In English we tend to contract 'will' (I will, I’ll, you will, you’ll and so on). Listen:

Diarmuid: I’ll go up to bed now.
Mary: …then I’ll come right up.

So to recap then: We can use 'going to' to talk about intentions or decisions for the future. And we can use 'will' to talk about decisions made at the moment of speaking. That’s all from me. Good luck with your Grammar Challenge:

Callum: Ok so that was Nula telling us about going to and will for future plans. Now we come to our challenge. We’re going to have a short conversation and I’ll start by telling you something and you’ll have to react maybe by telling me a plan or maybe something spontaneous. And if it’s spontaneous if it’s something that just comes to your mind, you’ll use…

Nappowan: will.

Callum: Will, ok. And if it’s something that you’ve planned?

Nappowan: It’s 'going to'.

C: So we start with an example and I might say to you…

C: Oh! Are you going to the shops? We don’t have any milk you know…

N: Yes, I’m going to the supermarket and I’ll buy some milk.

C: Good! Well done! You’re going to the supermarket because it’s already your plan and you’ll buy some milk. Excellent! That’s the right answer.

C: Ohhh…This bag is really heavy!

N: I’ll carry it…for you. I’ll carry it for you.

C: Oh, excellent. Thank you very much, yes. I’ll carry it for you. 'Will', perfect.

C: I’d love a coffee but I haven’t got any money.

N: It’s ok, I’m… going to pay for you.

C: Oh you’re going to pay for me! Ah, did you already plan to pay for me?

N: No…Ah maybe I’ll…I’ll pay for you.

C: I’ll pay for you, excellent. So it wasn’t a plan.

- Ding dong.

C: There’s someone at the door.

N: I’ll get it.

C: Excellent! I’ll get it. You’ve just made that decision.

C: Oh dear! This kitchen is a real mess! I don’t want to tidy at all.

N: Don’t worry. I’m going to clean soon.

C: Oh, excellent. You’re going to clean soon so is that a plan you had before? Or is it a plan you’ve just made?

N: A plan I had before.

C: Excellent, this is why you use 'going to'. Fantastic. Thank you very much. You’ve successfully finished your Grammar Challenge! Well done!

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