Rain

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Hi there,What is the difference between 'will' and ' be going to' in 1 and 2.1. The sky is grey. it is going to rain, 2. It will rain tomorrow.Thanks

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

A different structure is used to indicate future action. There is no difference in meaning. To be going to often means the same as to intend, but not when the weather is talked about.

These two sentences are identical in meaning:

I intend to do it tomorrow.
I am going to do it tomorrow.

CB

Laborious · Answer

martinleeWhat is the difference between 'will' and ' be going to' in 1 and 2.

The difference is that 'be going to + rain' is a present form expressing future meaning, while 'will + rain' is a future form expressing future meaning.

'be going to' suggests that the action is going to happen in the near future, or immediately after the speech. This expresses more certainty than the 'will rain' express. Probably because there're some signs, in your case 'grey sky', to tell that the thing or the action (raining) is pretty certain in the (near) future.

'will rain' just expresses simple futurity. The speaker thinks that the action of raining will happen in the future (tomorrow), but there're no signs present at the time of speaking. By saying 'will rain tomorrow', the speaker isn't as certain as he is with 'be going to rain'.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

LaboriousBy saying 'will rain tomorrow', the speaker isn't as certain as he is with 'be going to rain'.

That's not my interpretation.
It will rain tomorrow (the forecast for rain probability is 100%)

Grammarfreak · Answer

Laborious By saying 'will rain tomorrow', the speaker isn't as certain as he is with 'be going to rain'.

I beg to differ. In fact, it seems the exact opposite is more likely.
Will - connotes a stronger conviction. Having said that, no one will stop to analyze them with a magnifying glass; therefore the meanings are considered the same, generally speaking.
Here are couple of examples of "will":
A mother was scolding her son about his son's messy room and laziness.
Mom: John, I have asked you to pick up all your clothes off the floor and clean up your room for two weeks. You said you were going to do it. That was two weeks ago two week ago. When it is going to happen?

Son: I know, and I heard you mom. I will do it after breakfast, promised.

#2 Your drug addiction will kill you if you still refuse to quit.

Laborious · Answer

OK. But my point was that when talking about predictions, ‘will’ is used to make predictions that are based on personal judgement, opinion, intuition.
http://www.grammaring.com/the-difference-between-will-be-going-to-and-the-present-continuous-for-future-events

For ex: I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time in Italy. (opinion)
Whereas Be going to is used to make predictions that are based on present evidence. There are some signs or clues now about the event that is going to happen in the future. The predicted event is either very near(and can be seen) or seems sure to happen.
For ex: Jane is going to have a baby. (we can see that she is pregnant)

Here’s another site http://www.EnglishForward.com/English/AddPost.aspx?ReplyToPostId=1992969&Quote=False,/English/AddPost.aspx?ReplyToPostId=1992969&Quote=False which says: This (be going to) has a particular function for stronger predictions, perhaps when there’s some present evidence to suggest something will happen.

For ex: ‘Sarah is a really good student, I think she’s going to be a doctor when she gets older.’

Thanks.

CalifJim · Answer

martinleeWhat is the difference between 'will' and ' be going to' in 1 and 2.1. The sky is grey. it is going to rain, 2. It will rain tomorrow.Thanks

1. Current evidence of a future event.
2. Confident belief about the occurrence of a future event.

CJ

Fivejedjon · Answer

The form BE GOING TO possibly originated in such utterances as:

We are going to meet George at the stadium,

uttered when we were literally going, i.e. on the way, to the meeting. At the moment of speaking there was present evidence of the future meeting. This use has become extended to embrace any action for which there is present evidence – things do not have to be literally moving. Consider now these two utterances:

Look at those black clouds. It's going to snow.
Pat is going to fly to Phuket next week.

In [2] the present evidence is clear – the black clouds. In [3], the present evidence may be the flight ticket that Pat has just shown the speaker, or it may simply be the knowledge in the speaker's mind that s/he has somehow acquired. This explains why, when the grammatical subject of the verb is capable of planning, there may be little practical difference between the use of the 'Progressive’ form and the BE GOING TO form. However, with a grammatical subject incapable of planning, there is a difference:

4. I am meeting my wife at the pub this evening.
4a. I am going to meet my wife at the pub this evening.
5. It's going to snow.
5a. It's snowing.
5b. *~~It's snowing tomorrow~~.

In [4] the speaker has made the arrangement. In [4a] the speaker may have made the arrangement (the present evidence), he/she may just have been informed by his wife (the present evidence), or may have recently made a plan (the present evidence). The circumstances surrounding the situations in [4] and [4a] differ, but the practical result is the same; the speaker has free choice between the two forms. Neither is ‘better, ‘more appropriate’ or ‘more correct’.

In [5], the present evidence is something like the presence of black clouds, or the speaker's knowledge of the weather forecast. In [5a], it is impossible for an arrangement to be made for future snow, and therefore the Progressive form used here cannot be referring to future arrangement. The context will therefore inform us that snow is actually falling as the utterance is made. The addition of a time-indicator cannot make the impossible possible, and [5b] is therefore not a possible utterance.

WILL is a modal and, like the other modals, has two core meanings. The two modal meanings are

(a) the 'extrinsic' meaning, referring to the probability of the event/state
(b) the 'intrinsic' meaning, reflecting such concepts as: ability, necessity, volition, rtc
obligation, necessity, permission, possibility, volition, etc.

The extrinsic meaning of WILL is exemplified in:

6. Luke left three hours ago, so he will be in London by now.
7. There will be hotels on the moon within the next 50 years.
8. The afternoon will be bright and sunny, though there may be rain in the north.

In all three examples, the speaker suggests 100% probability, i.e. absolute certainty. (MAY would imply possibility, MUST logical certainty, to take examples of two other modals). Note that while certainty in [7] and [8] is about the future, in [6] it is about the present. It is the absolute certainty, in the minds of speaker/writer and listener/reader, that can give the impression that forms using ‘the WILL future’ are some way of presenting ‘the future as fact’. Some writers therefore call this form ‘the Future Simple’. Weather forecasters, writers of business/scientific reports, deliverers of presentations, etc, frequently use WILL, and students who encounter more English through reading native writers than hearing native speakers informally may assume that it is a 'neutral' or 'formal' future. In fact the particular native writer or speaker is simply opting to stress certainty rather than arrangement, plan or present evidence.

The intrinsic meaning of WILL is exemplified in:

9. I'll carry your bag for you.
10 Will you drive me to the airport, please?
11. Peter will leave his mobile switched on in meetings. It's so annoying when it rings.

These examples show what we might loosely call volition, the willingness or determination of the subject of the modal to carry out the action. Note that [11] is not about the future, and in [9] and [150] the futurity is incidental. It is context rather than words which gives the meaning.

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