350 7. Absolute tense forms referring to the post-present evoked by the context. There is no implicature of nonfulfilled intention in He said he was going to do something about it, unless we add something like but it still looks the same to me. 7.10.5 A form built with has/have been going to receives a continuative interpretation which implies that the (situation of having the) intention leads up to (and includes) t 0 , and hence that there has not been actualization of the intended situation yet. You’ve been going to talk to the landlord for months. (implies: but you still haven’t done it.) You have been going to buy a tennis racket of your own for years, [but you still come to borrow mine]. If it does not imply a present intention, be going to implies that the speaker’s prediction is based on present evidence or knowledge. 7.11 Be going to expressing present predictability of a post-present actualization 7.11.1 Apart from a present intention, there are various other factors that can render the post-present (non)actualization of a situation predictable at t 0 . For the use of is/are going to it suffices that the speaker’s prediction is based on present evidence or knowledge. In many cases the post-present situation is predictable because there are signs in the present of what is going to happen. In other words, the post- present situation is predictable because its origin or beginning lies in the pres- ent. There’s going to be a row in a minute. (implies, for example, that the speaker can see that some people are getting upset.) Clauses belonging to a nonintensional context receive a ‘transparent’ (‘de re’) inter- pretation, i. e. their truth is evaluated in relation to the real world. It is typical of such an interpretation that the truth value of the clause is not affected when a referring expression in the clause is replaced by an ‘identical’ expression (i. e. by an expression with the same referent). Thus, since in the real world the capital of France and Paris have the same referent, we can replace the former by the latter in The capital of France has ten million inhabitants without altering the truth value of the sentence. In sentences that receive an opaque interpretation, the replacement of a term by an ‘identical’ expression may affect the truth value: the sentence Bill thinks that Paris is the capital of Spain may be true even if Bill thinks that the capital of France is the capital of Spain is not true. II. Remarks on be going to 351 [The little girl showed her drawings to the visitors.] Everyone agreed that she was going to be a real artist. (ϭ The girl was already showing signs of being a gifted art- ist.) [Look out!] We’re going to bump into that van! Oh no! Betty’s going to sing. (implies that the speaker knows this, e. g. because Betty has taken the microphone.) I think I’m going to be sick. (implies: I’m feeling queasy.) [Iraqi troops have invaded Kuwait this morning.] Surely, the United States is not going to accept this. (expectation based on present knowledge of foreign policy) 7.11.2 When followed by a stative verb referring to a nonintentional (nonvoli- tional) situation, be going to is automatically interpreted as expressing this sense of predictability: We’re going to see the finish soon. You’re not going to like this review of your book. Are you going to remember this? [Or shall I write it down?] [Jake already finds that bed a bit too short, and] he’s going to be taller by the time he comes next summer. [We’ll have to get a new one before his next holiday.] She’s going to know what’s happened to her predecessor, [so she’s going to have armed herself against any similar occurrences.] (ϭ ‘It is predictable that she will have found out about what happened to her predecessor’) 7.11.3 The fact that be going to represents the post-present actualization of a situation as related to the present means that the situation referred to is normally interpreted as lying in the immediate or near future, unless there is an adverbial, contextual or pragmatic indication to the contrary. Compare: We’re going to have the chimney repaired. (interpreted as referring to the immediate or near future, unless an adverbial like one day is added.) [Be careful.] The bath-tub is going to overflow. (idem) What are you going to read to us? (interpreted as referring to the immediate or near future, unless an adverbial like next time is added.) Because of this immediacy implicature, be going to can be used without an adverbial or contextual specification of a specific future time. In this respect it differs from shall and will, which are often hard to interpret without such a specification. Thus, a sentence like It will snow is pointless without an adver- bial or contextual specification of a specific future time (in the same way as It snowed is not fully interpretable if we do not know what time the speaker is referring to), but It’s going to snow is impeccable in isolation, because it is interpreted as a statement about the near future. This interpretation accords with the observation (made in 7.2) that, as a futurish form, ‘be going to ϩ V’ has ‘dual time reference’: reference to the post-present time of actualization is 352 7. Absolute tense forms referring to the post-present combined with reference to the present. This means that be going to does not need a temporal anchor for the post-present situation time because it already has speech time as a temporal anchor for what determines the post-present actualization. 7.12 A special use of be going to in if-clauses In 7.15.2, it will be pointed out that be to can be used in a conditional clause in order to represent the possible future actualization of the if-clause situation as a goal that is envisaged at t 0 . In informal English, be going to is more common than be to in this use. You’ll have to hurry if you’re (going) to be there on time. If you’re (going) to pass your exams you’ll have to work much harder than you’re doing. You should try and get your articles published in better scientific journals if you’re (going) to become a name in the academic world. 7.13 Constraints on the use of be going to The use of be going to presupposes that all the necessary conditions for the future actualization of the situation referred to are fulfilled. Because of this, be going to is not normally used in the head clause of a conditional sentence whose conditional clause expresses an ‘open’ condition (which may or may not be fulfilled in the future). 7.13.1 Because be going to represents the post-present as having its roots in the present, its use presupposes that all the necessary conditions for the post- present actualization of the situation have been met. This is true not only when it is used as a futurish form but also when it is used as future tense auxiliary, because even then it has some trace of the futurish meaning that the situation’s actualization is dependent on present factors, even when that element of mean- ing in itself is virtually negligible (because it is reduced to the sense that the speaker makes a confident prediction at t 0 Ϫ a sense that is shared by ‘pure future’ will). It follows that be going to is not normally used to refer to a situation whose actualization crucially depends on the future fulfilment of a condition. In other words, will is the normal auxiliary if the context refers to (or implies) an essential condition which is not yet fulfilled (i. e. an ‘ open condition’ concern- ing the possible actualization of a post-present situation). Consider: II. Remarks on be going to 353 If Sue asks Jim, he {will / is going to} help her. Depending on the choice of auxiliary, there are two interpretations: (a) With will, the sentence is interpreted as ‘If Sue asks Jim to help her, the result is predictably that he will do so’. Here the future actualization of Jim’s helping Sue is dependent on, and will result from (i. e. be caused by), Sue’s asking him to do so. Sue’s asking Jim to help her is thus a necessary and sufficient condition for Jim to do so. (b) Be going to suggests the reading ‘I predict that Jim will help Sue provided that Sue asks him’. That is, Sue’s asking Jim for help is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for Jim to help Sue. The following further illustrate that if we want to refer to a situation which is only brought about by some future situation we cannot use be going to, be- cause be going to requires the cause (i. e. the fulfilment of the condition) to be present: [“Let’s sit on that bough.” Ϫ “No, it’s not strong enough.] {It’ll break / *It’s going to break}.” (implicit condition: if we sit on it) If you ever go to France, you {will / ?? are going to} enjoy your meals there. If she manages to improve her serve and her backhand, she {will / ?? is going to} take her place among the top players. [Be careful!] The bathtub {is going to / ?? will} overflow. (For lack of an indication of time, will strongly suggests that there is a condition missing.) Compare further: [“Isn’t the bookcase ready yet?”] Ϫ “The glue will be dry in half an hour, [and then you can use it].” [If you want to tear these things apart again, you’ll have to do so quickly.] The glue {is going to be / will be} dry in half an hour. In the first example, will be dry is much more natural than is going to be dry if the speaker’s intention is to advise the hearer to be patient. This is because will be dry in half an hour puts a certain emphasis on the fact that not all the conditions for the glue to be dry (and for the bookcase to be ready) are satisfied yet (though they will be in half an hour): the main message is ‘Don’t touch the bookcase. It’ll be ready in half an hour if you let the glue dry without interfer- ing’. In the second example, is going to conveys the idea of inevitability: all the conditions for the future actualization of the situation are fulfilled, so the situation is inevitable, unless something interferes with the necessary conditions before it is too late. Will is also possible in this context: it brings the implicit condition ‘if you do not do something quickly’ to the fore. 354 7. Absolute tense forms referring to the post-present The above observations also explain the following: I must speak to my brother or he {will / ?? is going to} make a big mistake. I must speak to my brother because he {*will / is going to} make a big mistake. The first sentence is interpreted as ‘I must speak to my brother because he will make a big mistake if I don’t speak to him’. Because of the implicit reference to an as yet unfulfilled condition, the choice of will rather than be going to is normal. In the second example, only be going to can be used, because the idea to be expressed is that my brother’s future action (which I consider a mistake) has been arranged and is fully predictable. In this case the future actualization has its roots in the present Ϫ an idea which is expressed by be going to, but not by will (which expresses a neutral prediction Ϫ see 7.6.1). It should be noted, finally, that even in a conditional context locating the fulfiment of the condition in the future, be going to with strong determination is fine: If John is still there when we arrive, I’m going to walk straight back out. There is no problem here because the strong determination in question is al- ready present at t 0 . (There is a similarity here with examples like If John is still there when we arrive, you must walk straight back out. where must refers to a present obligation though must walk locates the poten- tial (actualization of the) situation of walking in the future.) There is no problem using be going to in the head clause of a conditional sentence if the conditional clause expresses a ‘closed’ condition. 7.13.2 It is in keeping with the previous remark that the use of be going to in the head clause of a conditional sentence presents no problem if the condition expressed is not treated as an ‘open’ condition (which may or may not be fulfilled in the post-present) but rather as a ‘ closed condition’, i. e. as a condition which, at t 0 , is assumed to be fulfilled or to be certain to be fulfilled. (A closed condition typically echoes something that has just been said or a conclusion the speaker has just arrived at.) [“I’ve lost my passport.”] Ϫ “If you have lost your passport, you’re going to have a lot of trouble with the police.” If you’ve come here to find out more about our plans, you’re going to be disap- pointed. (ϭ if, as I believe is the case, you’ve come here ) II. Remarks on be going to 355 Sentences like the following are slightly different, because the conditional clause is not echoic: You are going to be late if you don’t hurry. (The speaker sees that the hearer is too slow.) [Don’t always go to your mother if you have a problem.] If you never try to solve a problem yourself, life is going to be very difficult for you when your mother dies. However, the reason why be going to can be used in the head clause is again that the speaker has no doubt about the fulfilment of the condition, i. e. that he treats the condition as closed. In these cases the speaker makes a prediction about the future on the basis of the state of the world (as he knows it) now, with the claim that the prediction will come true unless something happens in the future to prevent its coming true. In other words, there is sufficient evidence for the prediction now, although certain events can prevent the actualization of the predicted situation. Thus the semantic pattern is: ‘If the conditions con- ducive to the actualization of Y, which currently prevail, do not change, Y is going to actualize’. Another example of this is If you carry on like that, you’re going to have a problem one of these days. In contrast, the following are examples in which (out of context) it is difficult or virtually impossible to treat the condition as closed, so that be going to is less acceptable or unacceptable: If you accept that invitation, you {will only / ? are only going to} meet a lot of boring people. You { will /*are going to} learn to drive a car proficiently if you take this course. Forms consisting of a form of be plus going to go or going to come tend to be avoided in favour of progressive present forms of go or come. 7.13.3 Although it is not ungrammatical, the use of be going to sounds rather awkward before go and come. People therefore tend to use the present pro- gressive form of these verbs instead. [I’m studying Spanish because] I’m going to Spain next month. (generally preferred to ‘am going to go’) She’s coming here next week. (generally preferred to ‘is going to come’) 356 7. Absolute tense forms referring to the post-present III. Futurish forms other than be going to 7.14 Be about to and be on the point of These two auxiliaries express immediate future. Be on the point of is most often used with an agentive subject. [A local radio station is prompting a village to evacuate with an ugly tale about the local landfill site,] which they claim is about to suffer a methane explosion and shower the neighbourhood with rocket-propelled refuse. (COB) [Neither my political nor my journalistic interests would be well served if the Gov- ernment took the advice] which, free of charge, I am about to offer them. (www) [Mrs Bottomley threatened to set up NHS operations with dentists on fixed Govern- ment salaries, but now she seems about to give in by increasing the amount surgeons can charge. (www) BHP Australia Coal, we discovered, is about to trade in its old Lear jet on a larger model, which seats 11 people. (www) Anne Diamond and her husband Mike Hollingsworth are both on the point of an- nouncing exciting new jobs. (www) Mr Hollingsworth, 46, former director of programmes at TV-am, is on the point of confirming a big new entertainments appointment with the BBC say friends. (www) I’m on the point of leaving my husband just to get rid of his dreadful mother. [She makes me feel so inadequate.] (www) Grey squirrels have now reached plague proportions in many parts of the country, and in Northumberland and Scotland are on the point of eliminating the last healthy populations of red squirrels. (www) 7.15 The auxiliary be to 7.15.1 Apart from its use to convey modal ideas (e. g. obligation or necessity resulting from an order or prohibition, etc.), be to can be used as a futurish auxiliary expressing an arranged future. It differs from the progressive present in that it normally denotes either an official plan or decision or a scheduled action imposed by an outside will. The measures are to take effect next week. (The) Prime Minister (is) to visit Australia next summer. (headline) These collieries are to close down before the end of the year. The ambassador is to return to Egypt tomorrow. 7.15.2 One special use of be to is in if-clauses referring to a goal that is envisaged at t 0 . As noted in 7.12, the same idea can be expressed by be going to in informal English. . the condition as closed. In these cases the speaker makes a prediction about the future on the basis of the state of the world (as he knows it) now, with the claim that the prediction will come. become a name in the academic world. 7.13 Constraints on the use of be going to The use of be going to presupposes that all the necessary conditions for the future actualization of the situation. must walk locates the poten- tial (actualization of the) situation of walking in the future.) There is no problem using be going to in the head clause of a conditional sentence if the conditional