will-future vs going to

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will-future vs going to

tomandmary

will-future vs going to

How would you explain the different use of the two tenses? Are both choices possible or rather only "going to"?

Have a nice day!

The Movie started at 8 o �clock, it �s nearly a quarter to nine now. We _______________ (be) late.

We are going to be late. We will be late. ???

9 Jan 2016

Giulietta66

hi!

I think you should use the present perfect... now it �s a fact: they ARE late...

but if you �d changed your sentence a bit like:

the movie starts in 5 minutes:

1. we are going to be late (plan - quite sure about it)

2. we will be late (prediction - not too sure about it)

that �s what I think...

it depends what you want to say... but if you ask your students to find the right answer, in that case, you could put absolutely anything in it... it �s the context that tells you what to write.

have a good one

9 Jan 2016

tomandmary

thanks a lot !

I think the German translation leads to the use of a future tense which might be wrong for native speakers. So present perfect would actually be right ...

Enjoy the week-end!

9 Jan 2016

tomandmary

thanks a lot !

I think the German translation leads to the use of a future tense which might be wrong for native speakers. So present perfect would actually be right ...

Enjoy the week-end!

9 Jan 2016

alien boy

Personally, I �d say they are interchangeable in the rephrased example

The movie starts in 5 minutes:

1. We are going to be late.

2. We will be late.

�going to �, in this instance, indicates definite signs/probability that the outcome �be late � will occur.

�Will � is a vey strong word, so as a prediction it indicates a definite rather than an indefinite situation.

In your original example

The Movie started at 8 o �clock, it �s nearly a quarter to nine now. We _______________ (be) late.

It isn �t a future context, it �s present. We would use something more like �We are already late. �

Cheers,
AB

11 Jan 2016