Am helping vs. am going to help vs. will help

Question

Hello,Based on what I read, I came up with the conclusion below, but I still have some questions.A.  I am helping you with your homework.  (settled plan)B.  I am going to help you with your homework.  (intention)C.  I will help you with your homework.  (promise or voluntary action)Questions:1.  I understand 'intention' has the same meaning as 'plan', would you say in sentence A, the act of 'helping' is more likely to happen than sentence B because it's already settled?  If not, how is A really different from B?2.  Is A and C also similar in meaning?  Since A is a settled plan, do you think it implies a promise of "helping" the listener, which makes it similar to C?  If not, what is the actual difference?Please advise.  Thank you

It is me · Accepted Answer

If I were you, I wouldn't try to see the differences between them in such single sentences because they usually make sense in a context. On the other hand, a few explanations go below;

A. I am helping you with your homework. (settled plan)
Present Cont. with a future meaning usually refers to near future arrangements especially between people with such verbs as meet, see, visit etc and is usually accompanied with a future time expression such as tomorrow, next weekend etc. and also often used with the verbs go, come, fly etc. indicating movement in this sense.

B. I am going to help you with your homework. (intention)
be going to, together with its several other uses, is also used to express planned future and often interchangeble with Pr. Cont. with the verbs see, visit, fly etc.

C. I will help you with your homework. (promise or voluntary action)
Depending on the context, yes, it may mean promise or voluntary action or so.

Here come my answers to your questions

1-You may intend to do sth but you may have not made necessary preparations for it, so it is somewhat different from the word "plan" in either meaning or use.
A four-year- old child, for example, may say,"I am going to be a teacher when I grow up" and this sentence gives us an opinon about his or her intention not his or her plan. On the other hand, I wouldn't choose to use Pr. Cont. in A in such a single sentence. I do not mean it is wrong completely but I would prefer to use "I' m going to help you" or "I'll/ will help you" depending on the situation itself.

2- As much as I know Pr. Cont. does not have the function of giving a promise, then again it wouldn't be suitable to say that A is similar to C.

Hope this helps

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you so much. That was really helpful.

Hi Mister Micawber,

Would you mind if I ask for your opinion on my original questions since I drew my conclusion from your response to one of the related threads here?

3. When we say 'settled plan', does it have the same meaning with 'arrangement'?
4. When I looked up 'intention' in the dictionary, it mentions about plans, is there really any difference?

Thanks in advance.

Anonymous · Answer

A. I am helping you with your homework tomorrow. (exactly tomorrow)

B. I am going to help you with your homework this week.

C. Yes, I will help you with your homework. It's a promise.

Am helping vs. am going to help vs. will help

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