Going-to future

Key takeaways

Going-to future belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Going-to future to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Going-to future from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The going-to future is a grammatical construction used in English to refer to various types of future occurrences. It is made using appropriate forms of the expression to be going to. It is an alternative to other ways of referring to the future in English, such as the future construction formed with will (or shall) – in some contexts the different constructions are interchangeable, while in others they carry somewhat different implications. Constructions analogous to the English going-to future are found in some other languages, including French, Spanish, Swiss German, and some varieties of Arabic.

Origin The going-to future originated in the late 15th century by the extension of the spatial sense of the verb go to a temporal sense (a common change, the same phenomenon can be seen in the preposition before). From a 1483 publication pertaining to Adam of Eynsham, a medieval English chronicler, an instance of this construction is present: Thys onhappy sowle..was goyng to be broughte into helle for the synne and onleful lustys of her body. The original construction involved physical movement with an intention, such as "I am going [outside] to harvest the crop." The location later became unnecessary, and the expression was reinterpreted to represent a near future.

Contracted forms The going to future construction is frequently contracted in colloquial English, with the colloquial form gonna and the other variations of it resulting from a relaxed pronunciation. Furthermore, in some forms of English, the copula may also be omitted. Hence "You're going to be" could be said as "You're gonna be" or just "You gonna be". In the grammatical first person, I'm gonna (which is, in full, I am going to) may further contract to I'm'n'a or Imma . These contracted forms can provide a distinction between the spatial and temporal senses of the expression: "I'm gonna swim" explicitly carries the temporal meaning of futurity, as opposed to the spatial meaning of "I'm going [now] [in order] to swim", or "I'm going [in the pool] to swim".

Formation The going-to idiom, used to express futurity is a semi-modal verb that consists of a form of the copula verb be, the word going followed by the word "to", for instance is going to. Like other modals, it is followed by the base infinitive of the main verb (compare with "ought to".) (An alternative description is that it uses the verb go in the progressive aspect, most commonly in present progressive form, serving as an auxiliary verb and having the to-infinitive phrase as its complement. However this description fails to take into account sentences in which the main verb is elided, such as "Yes, he's going to.") It can be put into question and negative forms according to the normal rules of English grammar. Some examples:

The boys are going to fight. (subject the boys + copula are + going to + base-infinitive fight) I'm going to try the wine. (subject I + copula am + going to + base-infinitive phrase try the wine) He's not going to make it. (negative form, copula negated with the addition of not) Are you going to bring Sue? (interrogative form, featuring subject–auxiliary inversion) Aren't they (more formal: Are they not) going to wear coats? (negative interrogative form) We were going to tell you earlier. (past form of the going-to future, formed with the past copula were) Yes, I'm going to. (main verb is elided). That the verb go as used in this construction is distinct from the ordinary lexical verb go can be seen in the fact that the two can be used together: "I'm going to go to the store now." Also the lexical use of going to is not subject to the contractions to gonna and similar: "I'm gonna get his autograph" clearly implies the future meaning (intention), and not the meaning "I'm going [somewhere] [in order] to get his autograph."

Usage The going-to future is one of several constructions used in English to refer to future events (see Future tense § English). The basic form of the going-to construction is in fact in the present tense; it is often used when the speaker wishes to draw a connection between present events, situations, or intentions and expected future events or situations, i.e. to express the present relevance of the future occurrence. It may therefore be described as expressing prospective aspect, in the same way that the present perfect (which refers to the present relevance of past occurrences) is said to express retrospective (or perfect) aspect. There is no clear delineation between contexts where going to is used and those where other forms of future expression (such as the will/shall future, or the ordinary present tense) are used. Different forms are often interchangeable. Some general points of usage are listed below.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Going-to future

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Going-to future claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Going-to future before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Going-to future ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Going-to future

In research: Going-to future appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Going-to future in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Going-to future is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics English grammar, Future, Grammatical aspects, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Going-to future outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Going-to future in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Going-to future means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Going-to future out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Going-to future in simple terms?

The going-to future is a grammatical construction used in English to refer to various types of future occurrences. It is made using appropriate forms of the expression to be going to.

Why does Going-to future matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Going-to future?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Going-to future.