Future with 'Going to' for intermediate learners

Anything after now is the future, and in English, we have many ways and tenses to talk about the future. Some are more basic and some are more advanced.

Future with 'Going to' in English Grammar

What Is Future with 'Going to'?

In English, we can talk about the future with different structures. One of them is to use 'going to'. We use the 'to be' verb before it. We can use this expression to talk about future plans and events. Let us look at some examples below:

I'm going to call my mom this week.

As you can see, the action is in the future.

They are going to go to the movies together.

As you can see, the base form of the verb is used after the future expression.

Just like other tenses in English, we can easily turn these statements into negative sentences and questions. Carefully study the examples below:

We're not going to talk to you anymore.

Is Samantha going to listen to pop music again?

Warning!

Be careful to never forget to use 'to' after 'going' in this expression. If not, the meaning of the whole sentence will change.

Uses

The future tense with 'going to' is used in many different contexts. However, we are going to talk about its main uses in the list below:

  • Talking about Plans and Decisions
  • Predicting the Future

Talking about Plans and Decisions

When we have specific plans and arrangements for the future, we can use the future tense with 'going to'. Let us look at some examples below:

You are going to adopt a pet next week.

My boyfriend is going to move in with me next month.

Predicting the Future

When we want to predict future events, we can use the future tense with 'going to'. Pay close attention to the following examples:

Look at the decorations! It's going to be a big party.

I think she is going to open an art museum soon.

As you can see, it is specified in the sentence that the action will happen soon.

Tip!

It is good to know that there is a slight difference between 'be going to' and 'will'. Although both can be used interchangeably, 'be going to' is mainly used to talk about future predictions. However, 'will' is mostly used to talk about specific plans and decisions that are definitely going to happen in the future.

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