This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 232, Will or Going To?
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Hello, Aubrey. What's going on? I have a question for you today.
All right. So what are you doing? What are you going to do after we record today?
I am going to eat lunch right after we record.
I'm already hungry. What about you? Me too.
I had a little snack before we started, but I'm starving.
So that is what I'm going to do as well.
Yes. This is going to be so interesting today.
I feel like, would it be strange, do you think, to ask instead of what are you going to do after we record to ask, What will you do after we record?
It would be a little strange. It wouldn't be wrong.
Just feels a little off, right? It just feels a little off.
It doesn't feel as casual or as friendly for some reason to me.
Yeah. But the grammar is not incorrect. That's what's interesting, right?
The grammar is fine either way. It just sounds a little formal, which makes it feel a little awkward for the situation.
Oh, I'm excited. Today we're going to get into one of the most classic problems, not problems, but challenges or questions with learning English, which is will versus going to.
Right, Aubrey? Yes, we got a really good question about this and I'm so excited we got it because I get questions from students a lot about this. they recognize that natives sort of just naturally know whether to say will or going to.
And they're like, but how can I know? They want like a formula.
They want a rule, which I understand. Yeah, exactly.
It's hard. A lot of it is listening, right?
Listening is a big part of developing an intuition when it comes to a language.
But I'm going to read the question from Luca.
Yeah, let's hear it. All right. Hi, Lindsay.
I'd like to know the difference between I'll eat and I'm going to eat.
Thanks for teaching me the language through all your podcasts.
Take care. Bye. Luca from Italy. All right.
Shout out to Luca. Yes. Awesome. I love this question.
And there's really a lot more than you realize in the English language when we start looking at will versus going to.
So we're going to actually make a three-part series about this across all of our podcasts.
So here on Business English, you're going to hear part one.
We will share when to use will and when to use going to.
We're going to give you that formula. We're going to give you the answer, how you will know which one to choose.
It's going to be very helpful. We use these all the time at work.
Yes, we love to have the answer. We're going to give you some guidelines that you will be able to come away today and say, okay, I see.
And then you'll work off of that to develop that intuition.
So it's more automatic. And next week, Aubrey, on All Ears English, we'll have part two in this series.
And on IELTS Energy later in the month, we'll have part three.
So we've got three amazing episodes for you, which are all connected or related.
And you want to make sure you get all of them.
Right, Aubrey? So what should our listeners do, first of all, to get the next one? what should they do follow all three shows to make sure you don't miss any of this series if you search all ears english you'll see all three you can't miss those bright yellow squares just make sure to follow all three podcasts so that you get the entire series all right let's get into it aubry the ultimate question from our listeners which one should we use yes so we have the two questions you need to ask yourself to decide which one is accurate.
And just like you said, Lindsay, at first you're going to need to ask yourself these questions, think about it for a second.
But the more you hear English, the more you use English, the more this will feel natural.
You'll just sort of know which one to use.
But until you get there, This is sort of a scaffold for you that you can ask yourself these two questions to make sure you're using the one that native English speakers would use.
All right. So the first question then, question number one, drum roll here, Aubrey.
Here we go. Here it is. Is it casual speech? and writing?
Or is it formal writing? Okay, so number one, is it a casual speech and writing?
Or B? Is it formal writing? Is that the formal speech, I guess, too, that's just a little more rare, right?
When we think of formal speech, this it's like quite formal.
So you know, meetings in business when we're working with new clients, so even at work, often it will be informal speech.
But when it comes to will versus going to, For very formal speech and all formal writing, you're always going to use will because going to is much more informal.
Right, right. It's strange to write going to in a formal written presentation or plans or something.
Or any formal writing, like an academic article that had going to would be very strange because it's quite a bit more informal.
I agree. Or even let's say I own like a cruise ship or a tour company and I send my clients in advance the itinerary.
I would say we will, you know, on Monday morning, we'll visit the market.
You know, it's not we are going to visit the market.
That's just it doesn't work for writing.
Yeah, it's just too much too informal, right?
We will begin the meeting at 10 a.m. This could be something that you say to coworkers or clients or at a presentation, or it could also be written, like you said, in a brochure or something talking about the time for something.
Okay, so what about the next example, Aubrey?
Yeah, you might say, the client will meet us at the office next week.
And this is more formal. It absolutely is correct grammar to say the client is going to meet us at the office next week.
But if you are in a more formal situation, if you're speaking to another client or an attorney or somewhere where the speech is more formal, then you would say will instead.
Okay, so when it comes to more formal things, business-related things, things that are planned, we're going for the will.
Right, Aubrey? Is that right? Yes, exactly.
And that's whether it's formal speech or formal writing.
But when you're Googling will versus going to, this is what you're going to hear people be the most adamant about, is that formal writing, you should always choose will.
And then you'll see that going to and will are a little more interchangeable. in other situations because that's the question is, how formal is the situation?
Even if it's an email, it could be pretty formal depending on who you're emailing.
And our conversation at the top of the episode wasn't formal.
So that's why I didn't use Will, right? Exactly.
If you had asked yourself, oh, is this casual speech? you know, or casual writing, because texts, emails are often still very casual writing, then you're going to opt for going to.
That's why it would have felt strange for you to say, what will you do after the meeting?
Because that's casual conversation. Yeah, for sure.
And I also just want to make sure our listeners know when we're talking for Luca specifically, when we're talking about going to, we're also talking about gonna, right?
I'm gonna eat. I'm going to eat. It's the same thing.
And for the purpose of this episode, it's the same thing.
Yes. We're going to get into that when we talk to you about question number two, because you're right.
We use contractions. We use gonna all the time with informal speech.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, question number two.
I'm ready for it. What question should I ask myself?
The second question, once you've decided it's casual speech and writing, because if it's formal speech writing, you opt for will.
You don't need question number two. But if it's casual speech and writing, then you need question number two, which is, is it planned or unplanned?
Right. Yeah. And this is the one that is where it's a little tricky.
Yeah, a little tricky, a little tricky. So, for example, when it's planned, like I look at a calendar.
Right. And I know I have a plan. It's going to write exactly for anything planned.
You're going to say going to instead of, well, for example, you know, what do you think he's going to say in the meeting?
It's it's interesting because this is something that this person would have planned to say.
So it feels more natural to say going to what's he going to say? yes exactly and there are situations where we could say both and maybe we could talk about the nuances a little bit but yeah that's what he's prepared something a set of remarks or he's leading the meeting so he's made plans right so it would be a little strange to say what do you think he will say because you know it's planned it's sure it might change, but you know, he has planned his remarks.
So there's a little more decisiveness, commitment to he's going to do something.
And so if it's something planned in advance, we'll opt for going to.
Yeah. Interesting. Okay. And then do you know when she's going to submit the paperwork?
All right. Yeah. Same thing here, right?
She has a plan. She knows when she's going to submit the paperwork.
And if you ask someone about this, You'd say, do you know when she's going to submit that paperwork?
Yeah, I mean, the best thing I as I said before, the best way the way I used to teach this when I taught in schools was if it's on the calendar, it's usually going to because there's a plan like in the next month or something.
Right. On the 25th, I'm going to go to the dentist.
Right. Not I will go to the dentist. No, that's a little bit off.
Exactly. Yes. And this is where you mentioned, Lindsay, that often when we say going to, when we're speaking, it's usually going to become gonna, right?
Gonna go into, we say it quickly, we say gonna.
Do you know when even in a work conversation, right?
Do you know when she's going to submit the paperwork? because we want going to to come out of our mouths as quickly as Will would.
Right, we don't want to waste any time. Yeah, we don't want to waste any time.
Okay, so if something's on the calendar, we've got a plan, it's usually going to.
So now there's the unplanned things that are what?
What do we choose? We will when it's unplanned.
So a really good example is if someone says, I'm going to the movies this weekend and they clearly have that planned.
And then if you suddenly decide, oh, I'll come with you.
You wouldn't say, I'm going to come with you.
That'd be really strange because you did not have that planned.
Right. It's spur of the moment. Oh, I'll come.
I'll come with you. Exactly. This is how we talk about this all the time.
It's something that is spontaneous and often it's a response to what someone else says because you're deciding it spur of the moment, like you said, Aubrey, right?
Yes, exactly. So some examples. I'll ask the CFO what she thinks.
And notice this almost always becomes a contraction.
We rarely would say, I will ask the CFO what she thinks.
We don't have time for all of those syllables.
We're just going to say, I'll ask, I'll ask.
And just to emphasize the response, the spontaneity, this is usually a response to something else, right?
Like, oh, it looks like our numbers are down.
Oh, I'll ask the CFO what she thinks. Exactly right.
This is spontaneous, something you're saying on the fly.
It's a response. Like if I said, it looks like our numbers are down and you immediately said, I'm going to ask the CEO what she thinks.
I guess you could say you could get away with it, but it would feel kind of not quite right.
Well, the meaning is different. The context is a little different because that then I would mean I had already planned to ask the CFO about this.
So that might be what you want to say. If like you've also noticed the numbers are down and you're planning to talk to the CFO, you might say, yes, I'm going to ask the CFO what she thinks.
And you're definitely implying that you were already planning to do that.
Totally. So it's kind of a matter of is there pre-planning for something or is it a spontaneous decision you're making in the moment based on other information you're getting?
Right. I'm going to do this is more synonymous with I'm planning to do this than it is with I will do this.
That's what's kind of fascinating. We assume that these mean the exact same thing.
But I'm going to do that means more I'm planning to do that.
Yeah, that's true. I agree with that. And then if we go back just for fun, let's go back to this first example.
What do you think he's going to say in the meeting?
This means, as we said, he's already planned his remarks.
Maybe he has an outline prepared of remarks.
Something is happening in the company. But what if we changed it and we said, what do you think he'll say in the meeting if we share X, Y, Z?
That would be a response to what someone else shares.
So that becomes spontaneous. I love that because here you change the context to now he hasn't had time to plan anything.
What do you think he'll say? What will he say?
He hasn't had time to plan, so he doesn't even know what he's going to say.
Exactly. So we can take sentences that essentially are the same thing, but we can change the meaning slightly by choosing will or going to.
Exactly. Yeah. So if we look back, this might be interesting to look at Luca's sentences.
I'll eat and I'm going to eat. I'm going to eat.
There's a little bit of a different meaning.
I'll eat is like wasn't really thinking about it, but like I come to the snacks and I'll eat something.
There was no planning here, whereas I'm going to eat.
It's like I had some kind of plan. I'm going to eat at this restaurant tonight.
I'm going to meet friends to eat. We're talking about something that's been planned.
Right. Or if I get to my desk at 8 a.m., I look at my calendar.
Okay, we're recording with Aubrey at 11.
I'm going to eat at 1 by the time we finish.
So plans, looking at a calendar, putting something on the calendar.
Love that. Good stuff. Let's do a quick role play here.
You and I are coworkers chatting before a meeting in this role play.
I'll start us. All right. Do you know if we're going to attend the conference next month?
I'm not sure. I'll ask after the meeting.
Okay, thanks. I'd appreciate it. A few of us are going to happy hour after work.
Want to come? Sure, I'll come. Thanks for the invite.
Yeah, I like these examples because they really demonstrate the spontaneity, right?
Yes, exactly. And the time when we are saying going to, it's something planned, right?
I say, do you know if we're going to attend the conference next month?
I'm asking, is this planned? Is this in the works for us to attend?
Yeah, 100%. And then I responded to you.
That's the key. I immediately said, I don't know.
I'll ask. Yeah, there was no plan to ask, right?
You've decided just now that you're going to ask.
Yes. Love that. If our listeners can just capture that simple difference, that would be huge, right?
Guys, this would be huge for the fluency.
What else? What did I say after that? Then you said a few of us are going to happy hour after work want to come.
So this is a plan, right? It would sound strange to say a few of us will go to happy hour after work.
No, right? When it's a plan, we say this is what we are going to do.
This is what we are planning to do. yeah a few of us or of course a few of us are going to go to happy hour right so going to go yeah we want to put that extra verb in there for this example oh does this sound strange to you a few of us are going to happy hour because no no happy hour is the noun like if you're going to happy hour later oh you or is the verb now we got confused well happy hour the noun is happy hour is what i mean right right right so that's an interesting thing to mention when you say going to you can say We're going to go to happy hour and add go again.
And some people will do that. And then it's not necessary.
You know, you can leave it off because are a few of us are is our verb are going to and then happy hour is the noun.
Yeah. I mean, for sure. Going to. But just so we line it up with going to attend, going to go to going to do something.
Right. So we can compare it one to one. Gotcha.
Yeah. You could say are going to go to happy hour, going to. attend a happy hour.
Perfect. Love it. And then you said, sure, I'll come.
Very spontaneous. You didn't know I was going to invite you, but you decided in the spur of the moment that you'll come.
Yeah. And this is where it would be strange to say, yeah, I'm going to come.
I'd be like, whoa. That seems weird, like you already had a plan.
No, you'd always say, I will, I'll come.
Yeah, it feels strange to say it that way.
And that's kind of, I think that that's the biggest misuse that we hear from our listeners, from our students, just that little change.
If we can make this adjustment, it will increase our fluency for sure and our connection.
That's the key. We don't want anyone to feel awkward by what we've said or that kind of thing.
Again, just to remind our listeners, this is part of a series.
The next episode is over on All Ears English.
What are we going to talk about over there?
Yeah. We're going to talk about some chunks where you have to use the word will.
Like for example, we'll see. And these exist in English where you have to throw out these rules of whether you're choosing will or going to because there are native chunks where you don't have an option.
Throw them out. Throw them out. So now we've learned them.
And then next week on All Ears English, we're going to throw them out by learning chunks.
And actually it's easier because then we don't have to think.
And that's where we want to get. What's the takeaway today? yeah this is really important we use we have to decide between will and going to all day every day at work wherever we are and these two questions will help you know which to say right to figure out if it's formal or informal speaking or writing and then once you have decided okay this is informal it's an informal conversation and that will start becoming very natural you'll start knowing like okay i recognize which conversations are informal which texts and emails are informal and then you know all you have to figure out is is it planned or not Yeah, I think listening can really fill in this gap.
Right. So now that you know the rules, listen more.
You'll start to notice the usage and then it will become more automatic.
But you guys know our philosophy, connection, not perfection.
So the worst thing you could do is to take a moment and start calculating in your mind in the middle of a conversation because then you lose eye contact.
You lose the momentum of the connection.
So don't do that. I would rather have you make a mistake.
I would rather have you make a mistake. Right.
And these questions are questions to ask yourself when you're practicing right in advance.
You're writing out role plays. You're practicing with a speaking partner.
That's when you can take a second to be like, okay, is this planned?
Which one should I use? When you're actually having that conversation, like you said, Lindsay, risk making the mistake rather than breaking the connection.
Yeah, human connection is why we're here.
It's what we want in life. So go for it, guys.
Good stuff. And we'll see you in the next version of this series or the next step in this series next week on All Ears English.
So hit follow on that show. Thanks, Aubrey.
Thanks, Lindsay. See you next time. Talk soon.
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