be going to..... will .. and their tense

[M in MN]

Please tell me about: will vs. be going to.

In these sentences:
I will help you with your homework tomorrow.

I am going to help you with your homework as soon as I finish the dishes.

'Will help' is the simple future tense. I understand that tense. But...
Is 'am going to' the present progressive tense? Or, the future progressive tense?

In the adverb phrase, why is 'finish' in the present tense?

Is this the same with " is going on" ?
Thank you for your help.

[Mister Micawber]

'Will' and 'be going to' are two forms of the expression of the future in English (and there are others). They can both be called 'future tense'.

USUALLY, 'will' expresses a simple expectation of what should occur, based on present understanding: 'I will help you tomorrow' because I know that I have free time and have the expertise to do so.

'Be going to' generally expresses the fact that the speaker has internal or external evidence for the future event: 'I'm going to help you tomorrow' because I have a plan now to do so.

In many cases, the two forms are interchangeable, as here.


'Finish' is in the simple present, because the speaker is currently 'finishing'; it could equally well be expressed as 'as soon as I have finished' or 'as soon as I am finished'.


Sorry, I do not understand your reference to 'is going on'. Could you clarify this?

[M in MN]

Hi,

'am going to': specifically, what tense is that?
Present progressive or future progressive? or?

You said 'am going to' is used to express future, but it does not contain the word 'will', like all the others.


'Is going on' a verb? is so, what tense is it? As in:
What is going on is a top secret discussion.

Thank you.

[Steven D]

Please tell me about: will vs. be going to.

In these sentences:
I will help you with your homework tomorrow.

I am going to help you with your homework as soon as I finish the dishes.

'Will help' is the simple future tense. I understand that tense. But...
Is 'am going to' the present progressive tense? Or, the future progressive tense?

In the adverb phrase, why is 'finish' in the present tense?

Is this the same with " is going on" ?
Thank you for your help.

Please tell me about: will vs. be going to.

In these sentences:

Y - Can you help me with my homework?

Z - I'll help you with your homework tomorrow. I don't have time today.

In this case, the speaker is making a decision to do something at a later time at the moment of speaking. This is why the speaker uses "will". Speakers mostly use contractions in such cases.

1. I'm going to help you with your homework as soon as I finish the dishes.
2. I'll help you with your homework as soon as I finish the dishes.

Sentence 1 and sentence two are essentially the same. There's really no difference. Sometimes "will" and "be going to" can be used interchangeably.

If a speaker uses sentence number 1, it would sound to me like the he/she wants to emphasize his/her intentions. It might come in reply to a question such as this, "It's getting late. When can you help me with my homework?"

Y - Can you help me with my homework?

Z - Yes, I'll help you as soon as I finish the dishes.


'Will help' is the simple future tense. I understand that tense. But...
Is 'am going to' the present progressive tense? Or, the future progressive tense? <<

They are both simply ways to express the future.

In the adverb phrase, why is 'finish' in the present tense? <<<<

as soon as - This indicates that something will happen when or if something else happens. We use the simple present to indicate that something is sure to happen at a later time.

The same thing happens with "once" and "when". The simple present is used in an adverbial clause to show that one thing happens after another thing. It would be a good idea, however, to note that "will" doesn't have to be used in the next clause.

As soon as we finish this, we'll go get something to eat.

As soon as we finish this, we can get something to eat.

As soon as we finish this, we should get something to eat.


We can use the past as well.

As soon as we finished, we got something eat.

Sometimes the present progressive can work as well.

As soon as he's working again, he'll be able to pay you back.

As soon as he starts his new job, he'll be able to pay you back.

[Mister Micawber]

You said 'am going to' is used to express future, but it does not contain the word 'will', like all the others.

Only one future form contains the modal 'will':

'I will see you tomorrow.'

There are however several other future forms, none of which contains 'will':

'I am going to see you tomorrow.'
'I'm seeing you tomorrow.'
'I see you tomorrow.'
'I'm to see you tomorrow.'
'I'm going to be seeing you tomorrow.'

'Will' as you can see is definitely in the minority, and is not to be thought of as specifically 'future' in any case: 'They will have arrived by now'.

[Steven D]

Only one future form contains the modal 'will':

'I will see you tomorrow.'

There are however several other future forms, none of which contains 'will':

'I am going to see you tomorrow.'
'I'm seeing you tomorrow.'
'I see you tomorrow.'
'I'm to see you tomorrow.'
'I'm going to be seeing you tomorrow.'

'Will' as you can see is definitely in the minority, and is not to be thought of as specifically 'future' in any case: 'They will have arrived by now'.

That is just as I see it.

[Steven D]

Only one future form contains the modal 'will':

'I will see you tomorrow.'

There are however several other future forms, none of which contains 'will':

Just remember that there is also the future progressive. Therefore, I would not say that only one future form contains the modal "will".

I'll talk to them tomorrow.

I'll be talking to them tomorrow.

I will talk to them tomorrow.

I'll be talking to them tomorrow.

[Steven D]

Don't forget the future perfect.

I'll have already spoken to them by then.

We'll have been driving driving two hours by the time we get there. This traffic is horrible.