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Tenacious Learner Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Going to vs will in the following sentence

Hi teachers,
Caroline: Robert! What are you thinking? We don’t have a drink. Have you asked us for one yet? No, you haven’t. Are we going to be here the whole day without a drink or what?

Robert: All right, Caroline. I'm going to buy the drinks.

Is it correct, 'I'm going to buy the drinks'? Shouldn't it be, 'I will buy the drinks'.

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

Thinking Spain Robert: All right, Caroline. Is it correct, 'I'm going to buy the drinks'? Shouldn't it be, 'I will buy the drinks'.

— Fivejedjon

  • Thinking Spain Robert: All right, Caroline.
  • Is it correct, 'I'm going to buy the drinks'?
  • Shouldn't it be, 'I will buy the drinks'.
  • ".
  • If he has already made the decision, then he may say "I'm buying/going to buy the drinks".
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4 Answers
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Thinking SpainRobert: All right, Caroline. I'm going to buy the drinks.Is it correct, 'I'm going to buy the drinks'? Shouldn't it be, 'I will buy the drinks'.
If Robert has just decided on this action, then he will probably say, "I'll buy the drinks" (not "I will buy ...". If he has already made the decision, then he may say "I'm buying/going to buy the drinks
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Hi fivejedjon,
Thanks a lot for your reply!Emotion: smile
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Thinking SpainHe is expressing a future plan decided by Robert now, at the moment of speaking. There is no previous plan.He decides that at the very moment Caroline says, 'Are we going to be here the whole day without a drink or what?'Then, it has to be, "I'll buy the drinks".
That's fine. Unfortunately, many exercises require a learner to give the 'correct' w
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fivejedjonUnfortunately, many exercises require a learner to give the 'correct' way of expressing the future without providing sufficient context. I have, for example seen learners expected to fill in the gap in such sentences as "Fred .... for London tomorrow. (leave)". In the right context, all of these are possible: leaves/is leaving/will leave/will be leaving/is going
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