Futurity

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Friday, October 10, 2003, at 04:11 AM, Pete Lombardo wrote:

> Hi all. I have a question for you on the different
> semantics involved in the two following sentences.
> What is your perception of each statement as far as
> futurity is concerned:
>
> - Mary Ann has decided to repaint her bedroom. She'LL
> paint it yellow.
>
> - Mary Ann has decided to repaint her bedroom. She'S
> GOING TO paint it yellow.

this is a standard topic in grammars, both scholarly and pedagogical,
of english.  the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language has a
compact discussion on pp. 211-2.  CGEL identifies three differences in
interpretation: "be going to" has a greater focus on the time
associated with the matrix (as opposed to complement) verb; the
preterite of "be going to" doesn't entail that the complement situation
was actualized; and "be going to" conveys intention, while "will"
conveys willingness or volition.  check out their examples.

while both examples above could be used to convey a simple prediction
about the future or a report of a decision made by mary ann to take
some action, the first sentence is more likely to have the first
interpretation, and the second the second.

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)