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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > going to or will in american conversation
going to or will in american conversation
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john2128
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going to or will in american conversation
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Which form of future tense is more common in american conversation "going to" or "will" I wanna say its going to but would like some feedback thanks john |
23 Apr 2015
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mareessa75
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I agree, "going to" seems to be used more often. |
23 Apr 2015
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ELOJOLIE274
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that �s like asking which one is more common "that" or "this".... both are used in different situation in some case you can �t simply put one instead of the other... for example: you �re about to leave your house and your landline phone rings "i �ve got to go, i �ll call you later" if you watch American tv series you �ll see the difference for example in Grey �s Anatomy "next i �m going to open the..." (usually when they are teaching to other doctors etc...) "i �ll do that when i have the time!" (more informal speech, or a "quick" reply) |
23 Apr 2015
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john2128
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I understand all the grammatical difference and realize that in some situations one is better than the other but on the whole which do you think is more common. I �m gonna study this week She �s gonna travel to Germany They �re gonna be angry about the house or is will more commonly used, again I understand the difference in meaning of going to and will but to basic learners what is more beneficial for them to learn in the beginning not to confuse them too much. WILL or GOING TO |
23 Apr 2015
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Sumrz
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It �s definitely "going to", thinking about it I usually�only use�"will" when I feel like reassuring the person that�something�is�going to happen for sure. ��� I would most likely say "I �m going to be there at 5:00." I would only use "will" if I felt like the person had doubts I was actually going to be there or I wanted to make it clear that there was no question of my time. Basically we use "will" when we want to emphasize our commitment to something. Most of the time we just stick to "going to". "Going to" 90% of the time. "Will" 10% of the time. �
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23 Apr 2015
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yanogator
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John, What I will say is that your goal is noble but foolish. You don �t want to confuse them too much, but this is English, so there �s no chance of being successful with that. With that said, I would say that you can start them with "going to", with the warning that there are many instances in which it will be wrong. What you might do is make a written note every time a student uses "going to" incorrectly, then build a lesson around the examples, so they can see the differences in our future forms. Much will depend on the age and level of your students, so you can build your lessons appropriately. I hope this helps a little. The more time I spend on this site, the more thankful I am that I didn �t have to learn English as a second language. Bruce . |
23 Apr 2015
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valodra
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...the more I spend on this site, Yanogator, the more I thank you for your kind & precious & always-interesting help.... Thank YOU so much! Val
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23 Apr 2015
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Zora
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I think that... and this is my own opinion on the use of will in the English speaking world... is that it sort of has an innate sense of urgency and/or certainty (like it MUST happen or we have to do it ,if we use it) when it is used, and therefore a lot of people tend to use "going to" instead.
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23 Apr 2015
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redcamarocruiser
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I would have guessed that "will" is more frequently used than "going to". This article agrees. It says it is based on the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English which is based on a 40-million word corpus of spoken and written text. Google fight also agrees. 971 000 000 for will and only 99 900 000 for going to.
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23 Apr 2015
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yanogator
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That �s surprising, Red. Just a reminder, though, that "will" is also a noun, so that will be included in the count, but I �m sure the noun doesn �t account for a large part of the number. Bruce
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23 Apr 2015
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Peter Hardy
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Australians are a lazy bunch when it comes to language. We omit and shorten more words than anyone else, it seems. Hence our beautiful lingo (language). This arvo (afternoon) I happen to teach Future Simple, too.
In short, as �will � is much shorter than �going to � we use it a lot more. Even when we �re sure, and the grammar requires the �going to � version, we �ll use the �will � version. The continuous form is also used a lot, and not only for arrangements. It �s all about habit, and we like to economize our speech.
But as Bruce said, it �s rather futile to figure out which form is used most. I agree with him that it �s better to focus on the wrong usage. It �s better to listen to a lot of conversations, like those horrible soaps on TV.
Cheers, Peter. |
23 Apr 2015
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