predictions or arrangements and intentions

[diamondcutter]

This page is from Practical English Usage, Michael Swan.
This part talks about the difference between some structures when they are used to express arrangements and intentions. But some sample sentences make me confused, especially these two groups.

1a. You won’t believe this.
1b. You’re not going to believe this.

2a. Next year will be different.
2b. Next year is going to be different.

I wonder if the these sentences talk about predictions, not arrangements or intentions.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

#1 is a prediction.
#2 is probably a prediction. It might be an arrangement or intention, but would need some further context to be so.

Swan is an excellent reference for very advanced students and for teachers. I wish you didn't have this book. Its a bit like looking in a chemistry book when you want to bake a cake.

 

[diamondcutter]

#1 is a prediction.
#2 is probably a prediction. It might be an arrangement or intention, but would need some further context to be so.

Swan is an excelent reference for very advanced students and for teachers. I wish you didn't have this book. Its a bit like looking in a chemistry book when you want to bake a cake.

1a. You won’t believe this.
1b. You’re not going to believe this.

Since both sentences express prediction, I’d like to know the difference between them.
I wonder if the difference is that 1a. shows that the speaker is 80% sure of his prediction while 1b, 90%.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

In common usage they have the same meaning.

 

[Tarheel]

1. You won't believe this.
2. You're not going to believe this.

I think the second one is perhaps more emphatic. It's something you might say if you have something really incredible to tell somebody.

 

[Tarheel]

Diamondcutter, since you seem to know, maybe you can explain what, grammatically speaking, an arrangement is.

:-?

 

[diamondcutter]

Diamondcutter, since you seem to know, maybe you can explain what, grammatically speaking, an arrangement is.:-?

I read this in a collins dictioanry.Arrangements are plans and preparations which you make so that something will happen or be possible.

 

[jutfrank]

I wonder if the difference is that 1a. shows that the speaker is 80% sure of his prediction while 1b, 90%.

No, that is definitely not the right way to understand the difference.

For now, at this point in your learning, you just need to know that they have effectively the same meaning.

 

[diamondcutter]

No, that is definitely not the right way to understand the difference.

For now, at this point in your learning, you just need to know that they have effectively the same meaning.

In fact, I'm a teacher of English in China, teaching both primary and high school students. I'm not a native English speaker. Chinese is my mother tongue. Sometimes my students ask me this kind of question. I think maybe it’s necessary for me to know the difference although there’s no need to tell my students. I wonder if you could tell me the difference between the two sample sentences from your point of view.

 

[tedmc]

Just tell your students there is no difference between the two versions and that their time could be better spent learning other aspects of the language, rather than splitting hairs trying to pick out the difference in different context.

 

[Tarheel]

Diamondcutter, you have to have context for a sentence to really mean anything.

I suppose if I work really hard at it I think of a context for one or both sentences. Would I get credit somehow?

 

[Rover_KE]

Would I get credit somehow?

Sure — we'll double your usual fee.;-)

 

[jutfrank]

In fact, I'm a teacher of English in China, teaching both primary and high school students. I'm not a native English speaker. Chinese is my mother tongue. Sometimes my students ask me this kind of question. I think maybe it’s necessary for me to know the difference although there’s no need to tell my students. I wonder if you could tell me the difference between the two sample sentences from your point of view.

The way to begin thinking about it on a more fundamental level is by first recognising this: The version with BE going to has prospective aspect and no modality. The version with will has modality but no aspect.

Those are not easy concepts to understand. Beware of mentioning this to your students. My personal approach to an issue like this is almost always to supply my students with a practical rule of usage appropriate to their level and to where they currently are in the course of their learning, rather than a technical or conceptual explanation. A useful practical rule here is that when making predictions, both BE going to and will can be used to do approximately the same job. This should be satisfactory to your students. If it isn't, your job is to convince them otherwise.

As I've suggested, all students are at different levels and have different learning requirements, but I'd imagine that your students' time and energy would be far better spent on learning other, more practical things than on the subtle differences in the minds of the speakers of these utterances. At least at this point in their studies.