0
Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Going to VS will
I did a little searching and one thing I see a lot is that "will" is supposed to be used when something is decided spontaneously with no planning. But if that's the case why do you say "I'm going to go to the bathroom" instead of "I'll go te bathroom." when you suddenly feel the urge. Another example: say you and your friend are reading in a hot room. You suddenly decide that it might be cooler outside so you say to your friend, "I'm going to read outside." You would suddenly just say "I'll read outside." right? So what's going on here?
Top answer
'Suddenly' is not really germane to the use of 'will'; it is the idea of no plan: a simple statement of something the speaker considers sure to happen in the future. 'Going to', meanwhile, indicates an intention, a decision, on the part of the speaker to do something in the future. As you should be able to understand, the decision to use the toilet comes very quickly upon the urge-- and who would want to announce the urge instead of the decision?
- 'Suddenly' is not really germane to the use of 'will'; it is the idea of no plan: a simple statement of something the speaker considers sure to happen in the future.
- 'Going to', meanwhile, indicates an intention, a decision, on the part of the speaker to do something in the future.
- As you should be able to understand, the decision to use the toilet comes very quickly upon the urge-- and who would want to announce the urge instead of the decision?
- In spite of all this analysis, however, how speakers elect to express future actions is not a result of considering each instance, but of language habit, and the supposed differences between I'll use and I'm going to use and I'm using as future forms are often ignored by speakers.
- I for one wouldn't necessarily say 'I'll read outside' instead of 'I'm going to read outside' at all.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
4 Answers
0
'Suddenly' is not really germane to the use of 'will'; it is the idea of no plan: a simple statement of something the speaker considers sure to happen in the future. 'Going to', meanwhile, indicates an intention, a decision, on the part of the speaker to do something in the future. As you should be able to understand, the decision to use the toilet comes very quickly upon the urge-- and who wo
00
Anonymous"I'm going to read outside.""I will" ("I'll") is often used to show you have reached a conclusion about what course of action to take based on the situation you are currently faced with. It is "spontaneous" in that sense.
Your friend: I'm going to read outside.
You: In that case I think I'll read outside, too.
Your friend: W
00
Sorry, that was a typo. Actually I meant to say you "wouldn't" say I'll go read outside, right?
And you have confirmed that this is so, so what is the reasoning behind it? There was no plan to read outside, so shouldn't that mean that "I'll go read outside." is the correct choice? In such a situation I also would say, "I'm going to read outside."
And you have confirmed that this is so, so what is the reasoning behind it? There was no plan to read outside, so shouldn't that mean that "I'll go read outside." is the correct choice? In such a situation I also would say, "I'm going to read outside."
00
So your saying that one says "I'm going to go use the bathroom" because it's a decision?
In CJs example I can agree that will would be used instead in the example he gave but I'm not seeing why in that case you use "will", and in a situation in which you are just walking with your friend and then you tell him you need to use the restroom, you use "going to".
In CJs example I can agree that will would be used instead in the example he gave but I'm not seeing why in that case you use "will", and in a situation in which you are just walking with your friend and then you tell him you need to use the restroom, you use "going to".
0
Related Questions