‘Will’ vs ‘be going to’ – Future forms – Test-English

Will vs be going to – Grammar chart

Predictions

Use will to talk about something that you think will happen.

• I think he’

  ll win

  the election.

• He

  will be

  a good doctor.

Use be going to to talk about something that you see is going to happen (there is present evidence).

• Don’t drive like a crazy man. We’

  re going to have

  an accident!

• The doctor said I’

  m going to have

  a girl.

Sometimes there’s little difference between will  and be going to for predictions. Compare:

• The conference starts in 10 minutes. We

  are going to be

  late. (=I can see that we cannot be at the conference in 10 minutes)

• We need to hurry up. We’ll be late for the conference. (=I think we will be late)

Decisions

Use will for decisions that you take at the moment of speaking (instant decisions).

• ‘Oh, we don’t have sugar.’ ‘Don’t worry, I’

  ll buy

  some.’

Use be going to for decisions that you have already taken at the moment of speaking (intentions or plans).

• ‘Why are you undressing?’ ‘Because I’

  m going to go

  for a swim.’

Compare these two sentences:

• ‘Sarah said she needs to talk to you.’ ‘Oh, I didn’t know. I’

  ll call her

  in a minute.’ (=I took the decision while having this conversation.)

• ‘Sarah said she needs to talk to you.’ ‘Yes, I know. I’

  m going to call her

  in a minute.‘ (=I took the decision before having this conversation.)