Difference Between Going to and Will

Going to and Will

“Going to” and “will” are used in the English language as the future tense. The future tense has many different ways of being expressed. Different forms include the simple future tense, “going to form, be about to form,” and the future continuous tense, future perfect tense, and future perfect continuous tense.

“Going to” and “will” are used for the simple future tense, but their usages are different from each other. Let’s try to understand them by some examples and explanations.

Simple future tense

Will

The simple future tense is used in the English language to tell about things that cannot be controlled. The simple future tense is used to express the future as a fact. For example, It will be Christmas in a week.
We also use this tense to express our belief about the future and what we think might happen in the future. For example:

I think the U.S. is going to win the soccer match.

While talking about what we think might happen in the future, we also use words like; I believe, probably, expect, I am sure, I think, etc. For example:

I believe I will go for a movie today.

I will probably go for a movie today.

We also use this tense when we decide at the time of speaking that something has to be done. For example:

It is raining. I will tell mom to take an umbrella.

Going to form

“Going to” is used when we have decided to do something before talking about it. For example:

“Why do you want to sell your car?”

“I am going to buy an SUV.”

The main thing to remember in the “going to” form is that the decision should have been made before talking about it and all the preparations made to do the act. It is important to remember that in such cases when decisions have already been made, the simple future tense with “will” should not be used.

The “going to” form is also used to talk about something going to happen in the future or likely to happen in the future with certainty depending upon the present. For example:

It is definitely going to rain; look at the black clouds in the sky.

This form is also used to express an action at the point of it happening. For example:

Get in the car, it is going to rain.

Summary:

1.“Will” and “going to” are both used for the future tense. “Will” is used in the simple future tense where the decision is immediate; whereas the “going to” form is a separate form which is not used for the simple future tense.
2.“Will” is used to express the future as a fact. It is used to express what we think might happen in the future and when we decide at the time of speaking that something has to be done in the future. Whereas the “going to” form is used for a decision that has been taken before speaking for something which is likely to happen for sure in the future and to express an action at the point of happening.

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