Are the expressions ‘GOING TO GO and GOING TO COME’ standard in BrE? See the examples:
I am going to go there now.
I am going to come here again.
Hello THLawrence,
Yes, they are standard and they are in common usage.
Thank you, Beeesneees. But A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet in their ‘A Practical English Grammar’ (Fourth Edition) say that it is not very usual to put the verbs ‘go’ and ‘come’ into the ‘be going to’ form. Instead we may use the present progressive tense construction. Any comments?
All I can say is that I have lived in the UK all my life and although ‘I’m going/coming’ is the more prevalent of the two expressions, I hear:
I am going to go…
I’m going to go…
frequently enough to describe the usage as ‘common’
I hear
I am going to come…
I’m coming…
almost as often as I hear
I’m coming.
I am going to go there [color=violet]now.
The “now” is confusing me.
When some activity is to take place shortly (rather than ‘soon’ or ‘about to’) we may use the ‘be going to’ expression. As the occurrence is usually not much later, we may say ‘now’ in real contexts, E2e4.
I am really happy to be discussing the grammatical aspects with a person who has lived all his/her life in the UK and who is, apparently, a language coach. I have been handling the grammar of English for over three decades now. I wanted to be sure of the formal usage rather than the informal or the common one. The universities in my country follow British English based on which students/candidates are almost often assessed. So I deem it my duty to confirm even the minute nuances/subtleties of expressions from reliable sources with due regard to the current, accepted linguistic developments in the native land.
If you need to teach your students the traditional formal grammar patterns, then Use ‘I am coming,’ and 'I am going, but if it is within your remit, it might be worth impressing on them that they will hear the alternatives, and the alternatives are perfectly acceptable in English language countries.
Thank you, Beeesneees. My students do bring the alternatives to my notice and now I shall bear in mind the discussions we have had already.
If nothing else, acknowledging the differences between the traditional English required for your students to pass their exams and the more modern ‘everyday’ English which they will hear from influences of Western society will make them more likely to appreciate that you are correct!
First of all I enjoyed both of your worthfull conversations .
I asked Bezeee . last of your post , like -‘everyday’ English —etc.
If I use -'every day ’ instead of ‘everyday’ what is the problem ?
Hello! Koreanlab,
Everyday means daily which is an adjective. Every day means, more or less, each particular day, and here you will find every functioning as a determiner before the noun day.
Thank you .
But you should have explained with example of each position , could you please
do that ?
I used here 'could 'instead of 'would 'as described by 'Ramond and Murphy’s 'Grammar book.
Thank you again in advance for your anticipation .
My son goes to school every day.
He rises at 6 in the morning every day.
Playing games is not his everyday habit.
Studying is his everyday schedule.
However, I remember having read somewhere that the use of ‘everyday’ for ‘daily’ is not standard English. Let’s see what the moderators have to say.
Hi,
I’m not a great fan of the expression ‘standard English’ because it is essentially vague. The important point to note is that the adverbial time expression ‘every day’ is written as two words and the adjective ‘everyday’ meaning ‘commonplace’ is written as one word.
Alan