[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by eric2004

Hi. I've a new question. Why do native speakers express the future in a variety of ways?


I'm going to travel overseas.

I shall (will) travel overseas.

I will be traveling overseas.

I am about to travel overseas.


I'm sobbing because I don't know the difference.

1. I will travel. (determined; certainty)
2. I am going to travel. (determined; intended plan)

Both 1. and 2. express the speaker's determination; They differ in that 'will' expresses a certainty, whereas 'going to' cannot express that.

Compare:
I am going to travel, certainly. (Not OK --it's an intention)
I will travel, certainly. (OK --it's a certainty)

3. I will be traveling.
=> will be -ing is used to give information about another event, to show what will be happening in the background. For example,

When you get home, I will be traveling. (main event in focus)
When you get home, I will be sleeping.

Compare:

Sam: What are you doing Friday?
Pat: I will travel. (determination)
Pat: I am going to travel. (intention)
Pat: I will be traveling. ('traveling' is something I will be doing in the background of my trip)
Pat: I will travel. (emphasis on I means, strong determination)

4. I am about to travel.
=> about to is called the inceptive. It denotes the beginning of action; the action is just about to begin, e.g. I am about to vomit.)

Consider,

Sam: What are you doing next Friday?
Pat: I am about to travel (Not OK. Next Friday is too far in the future)
Pat: I am about to find out from my boss. Just a minute.

Originally Posted by eric2004

Teachers , I'll probably ask you some basic questions related to grammar knowledge later. I didn't study well when I was in my college, so I'm paying for it now .

I started taking it seriously in 2001. And because I am contantly taking all sorts of E nglish exams, I've been learn ing English with a mere aim of passing. So you'll notice I have made a huge amount of mistakes previously and I'm sure there will be more . So please have patience with me.

Also, I would like to buy an English dictionary which provides the usage and expression notes. Could you give me some suggestions , my dear teachers?

I like The Oxford Dictionary of Current English, published in paperback.

The best online dictionaries are OneLook and American Heritage.

:D