is ...ing/ is goitng to ...

[dominic]

What is the difference between the sentence "something is happening tonight" and "something is going to happen tonight"?

[hector51]

"something is happening tonight"

this sentence can be understood in 2 way
1.something is happen right now (it's in its progress of happening )
2.something will happen in a near future.

"something is going to happen tonight"

this sentence mean "something will happen in a near future"

as you see,if being understood "something will happen in a near future",these 2 sentences have the same meaning.

hope it helps
my 2 cents

[steph_333]

@ "something is happening" means that it is the same like "something is going on" So that would mean that it's happening at the moment.
@"something is going to happen" means that you know that it's going to happen (or anyone knows it's gonna happen"
But I'm not a teacher.......so I could be wrong