Unit 9: The big wedding

Present continuous and 'going to' for future

We can use the present continuous to talk about the future when we have already arranged
to do something. It's definite, not just an idea. Perhaps we have put the arrangement in our
diaries.
'Are you free at 2 o'clock on Tuesday?' 'No, I'm meeting a client.'
We can use be going to to talk about something that we have decided to do in the future, but
not arranged yet. It's possible that the plan might change.
When I finish at college, I'm going to spend a year travelling.
The uses of the present continuous and 'be going to' with future meaning are very similar and
it is often possible to use either of them, with little or no change in meaning.
We also use be going to for something that we expect to happen because we can see from
the present situation that it is very likely. We can't use the present continuous in this way.
It's so cold. I'm sure it's going to snow soon.
Oh no! That car's going to hit the tree.
Form

Present continuous
Subject + am/is/are + -ing form
Be going to
Subject + am/is/are + going to + infinitive
For both tenses, we usually use contractions, or short forms (I'm, he's, we're, etc.) when we
are speaking.
Positive
I'm spending the day on the beach tomorrow with Zach.
We're going to look for a nice restaurant with a view of the sea.

Negative
We're not visiting the museum on Saturday.
They're not going to visit the Taj Mahal.
Question
What are you doing at the weekend? (= what have you arranged?)
What are you going to do at the weekend? (= what is your plan?)
Are they going to get married in the summer?

Take note: time expressions

For both the present continuous for arrangements and 'be going to' for plans, we often use
time expressions like at half-past ten, next Thursday, at the weekend, soon.
Are you coming home soon?
I'm going to send out all the invitations next week.
Take note: arrangements and timetables

Use the present continuous and NOT the present simple for things that you have arranged to
do. Use the present simple for future events on timetables and programmes.
We're going by train tomorrow morning.
The train leaves at 7.45.

Spoken English
We often pronounce going to as gonna, especially in informal conversation.

Wedding words
Bridesmaids and groomsmen...
Vocabulary tip

Did you notice the difference between to get married and to be married? On the day of your
wedding, you get married. After that, you are married.
It's similar for to get engaged and to be engaged. To get engaged is what happens when
you ask someone to marry you and they say yes. After that you are engaged, until you get
married!
Examples
We got engaged in March this year and we're going to get married this year.
I've been engaged for two years.
All my friends are married already!

Pronunciation: 'Gonna'

The phrase going to is often used to talk about the future.

I'm going to have lunch.
However, in normal, spoken English, we often use gonna, gonna.
I'm gonna have lunch.

Past, present or future?

Did you notice that the present continuous is used to talk about both the present and the
future?
We're getting married in June 2016 - future
We're thinking about our honeymoon - present
We're expecting about 100-120 guests present and future

6 Minute Vocabulary
Word stress

Catherine
the words photography and photograph are good examples of today's topic, which is word
stress. Were going to look at the way word stress can change in words that come from the
same root word.
Catherine
let's listen to John. He's a photographer, which is a person who takes photographs as a job.
He's talking about his latest project.
Finn
what's John's project?
John
The book is a collection of photographs of my father. He studied geography as a young man
and went all over the world during his career. He visited some very
interesting geographic locations the Andes, the Sahara beautiful places. The book's like
a photographic record of his life a kind of a biography in pictures.

Catherine
And the answer is: a biography.
Finn
A biography is the story of someone's life usually a book.
Catherine
But, John's a photographer, so he told the story of his father's life in photographs.
Finn
John's dad was interested in geography: the study of the physical features of the earth. And
geography is a key word in today's show because of its stress.
Catherine
Now, geography has four syllables, ge-o-gra-phy, and the stress falls on the third syllable
from the end. Geography, not geography, geography or geography. Its geography.
Finn
Words that end in the letters p-h-y - pronounced 'fee' - usually have this stress pattern. Like
biography and photography.
Catherine
these words like geography, biography and photography - are all nouns. We can change
them to adjectives, by changing the y at the end to i-c pronounced 'ik'. And when we do this,
the word stress moves to a different place in the word. Here's John again.

He studied geography as a young man [] He visited some very interesting

geographic locations
Catherine
Did you hear the difference? When we say adjectives that end with i-c, the stress falls on the
penultimate syllable, that's the syllable just before the last one. So it's ge ography, but
geographic.
Finn
Geography, geographic. And we have photography, pho-to-graph-ic
Catherine
And there are other words like dramatic, to do with theatre and drama; alphabetic, to do with
the alphabet, and artistic, to describe things to do with art.
Finn
We've looked at the stress patterns of words that end with p-h-y, like photography.
Catherine
And words ending with i-c, like photographic.
Finn
And now, it's time for a quiz. Choose the correct pronunciation for the words in these
sentences. Catherine will tell you the answers. Ready? Number 1. I like reading books about
famous people. I love a good a) biography, b) biography or c) biography?
Catherine
And it's b) biography.
Finn
Number 2. 'The police arrested him when they found a) photographic evidence, b)
photographic evidence or c) photographic evidence.'
Catherine
And the answer is - c) photographic evidence.
Finn
here's todays top tip for learning vocabulary: if you use an online dictionary, you can usually
hear an audio recording of a words pronunciation. Listen carefully to the word stress and try
to copy it.

6 Minute Vocabulary
Words with stress on the third syllable from the end:
bi-O-gra-phy

ge-O-gra-phy
pho-TO-gra-phy
Words with stress on the penultimate syllable (4-syllable words):
al-pha-BET-ic
bi-o-GRAPH-ic
ge-o-GRAPH-ic
pho-to-GRAPH-ic
Words with stress on the penultimate syllable (3-syllable words):
ar-TIST-ic
dra-MA-tic

The rules
Planning for the future
One of the couples was Steve and Andrea. They said this about their wedding:
We're getting married in July next year.
It's going to be a big mix of food from all over the world.
And here are a few similar examples:
We're also going to have some traditional English food, like bacon sandwiches and
other things.
We're having bacon sandwiches and onion soup at our wedding.
We're going to have a church wedding in the morning, but we're not sure where.
We're having a church wedding. We booked the church last week.

Summary: Going to and present continuous

Use going to
To talk about something that we have decided to do in the future, but not arranged yet. Its
possible that the plan might change.
When I finish at college, Im going to spend a year travelling.
Use the present continuous
To talk about the future when we have already arranged to do something. Its definite, not just
an idea. Perhaps we have put the arrangement in our diaries.
Are you free at 2 oclock on Tuesday?
No, Im meeting a client.
Actually, the uses of the present continuous and going to are very similar and you can often
use either of them, with little or no change in meaning.
I'm going to travel around Asia next year.
I'm travelling around Asia next year.

6 Minute Grammar. Present continuous and 'going to'

Emma
The sentence Farid is meeting his cousin at the airport on Saturday describes an
arrangement, made between two people, to do a particular activity, at a particular time.
Finn
Yes, and we can use present continuous, thats subject plus am, is or are plus verb i-n-g to
talk about this type of future arrangement. We use going to with an infinitive verb to talk
about future plans things we intend to do. An example please Rob?
Rob
When I finish university, Im going to spend a year travelling.
Simon and Ibrahim are going to spend the whole weekend playing football
Emma
We can often use either the present continuous or going to for future plans.
Finn
So we could say: Im meeting some friends for a drink tonight.

Emma
Or you could say: Im going to meet some friends for a drink tonight.
Finn
But sometimes we can only use going to. Heres an example.
Rob
Its really cold. I think its going to snow.
Finn
Its going to snow. That isnt a plan, and it isnt an arrangement.
Emma
But the speaker can say whats going to happen, based on the present situation whatever is
happening now.
Finn
And were looking at present continuous for future arrangements, and going to plus a verb to
talk about future plans and arrangements and things we know are going to happen based
on the present situation.
Emma
What are you gonna see? I used a special short form of going to that we usually only find in
informal spoken English: I said gonna. Gonna. Its very common in spoken English.
Finn
Thats right. The long form is: What are you going to see?
Finn
question 1: Imagine youre at a football match. Your team is playing really well. Do you say a)
Im sure theyre going to score a goal! Or do you say b) Im sure they are scoring a goal!
Emma
And the answer is a) Im sure they are going to score a goal!
Finn
Thats right based on the present situation they are playing well we can talk about a
probable future situation with going to: Im sure they are going to score a goal.
Finn
Right, question 2 - which is correct? a) Were gonna going by train. b) Were going go by train.
Or c) Were gonna go by train.
Emma
Its c) Were gonna go by train. Its the shorter, spoken form of: Were going to go by train.

Finn
Now, number 3. Which is a correct future sentence: a) Hurry up the train is leaving. Or b)
Hurry up the train is going to leave in ten minutes?
Emma
And the correct answer is b) the train is going to leave in ten minutes. Sentence a) needs
a time expression to give it future meaning.

Different ways to talk about the future

We also use going to for something that we expect to happen because we can see from the
present situation that it is very likely. We cant use the present continuous in this way.
The sky is grey. I think I'm going to get wet.
Oh no! That cars going to hit the tree.

Present simple for future

"The wedding starts at 2pm"
Although the tense is the present simple (subject + verb), it is actually talking about the future.
We sometimes use the present simple to talk about events which happen at specific times in
the future.
The wedding ceremony starts at 2pm.
The concert is from 9pm-11pm.

Ways of talking about the future

Can use for future
Present continuous (I am going to their wedding next year)
Going to (They're going to get married next year)
Will (They will get married in June)
Present simple (Their wedding starts at 2pm)
Can't use for future
Past simple (I went to their wedding last year)
Past continuous (They were planning their wedding)