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I've got two sentences:

And now I'll announce the winner of the competition.

And now I'm going to announce the winner of the competition.

In which sentence the structure is used more accurately? Are there any rules that would apply to this exact (or similar) situation?

I know the difference between will and going to in terms of spontaneous/planned actions, but I'm confused here.

Edit: This sentence is from an exercise used in an English Language Competition. The question prompt was "Decide whether the sentences are grammatically correct and try to correct the ones that are not."

The sentence in the exercise went

And now I'll announce a winner of the competition.

and in the keys the corrected answer provided was

And now I'm going to announce the winner of the competition.

Community
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Stacy
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    In this case, both forms are 'accurate'. As Swan in Practical English Usage (page 218) says: "Will/shall and present forms (especially going to...) are often both possible in the same situation." – Shoe Mar 17 '20 at 15:49
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    Does this answer your question? "going to" vs "will" – Edwin Ashworth Mar 17 '20 at 15:53
  • @Shoe, but I saw this sentence in an exercise where the assignment was to correct the mistakes. And the sentence in the exercise went "And now I'll announce a winner of the competition", and in the keys the corrected answer provided was "And now I'm going to announce the winner of the competition. – Stacy Mar 17 '20 at 15:54
  • Why was it corrected this way? – Stacy Mar 17 '20 at 15:56
  • It is possible that going to might be more common in this situation. But to say that the will alternative is a mistake (assuming that mistake here means ungrammatical) is problematic to say the least. What is the source of the exercise? – Shoe Mar 17 '20 at 16:02
  • Sample exercises like that are provided at the website of Hippo International Competition. One of the past papers for the semi-final round included this exercise. – Stacy Mar 17 '20 at 16:05
  • Thanks. Before making any further comments I would have to know the exact question prompt and the exact answer text. In general, however, there is a problem with exercises like this that imply there is only one 'correct' answer when judging the grammaticality of decontextualised alternative forms. – Shoe Mar 17 '20 at 16:14
  • There is a difference between I will do it, and, I am going to do it. The former may happen in the near future, or any time in future, but the latter is something which is scheduled to happen. Here, possibly, the announcement was scheduled to happen; hence 'be going to' – Ram Pillai Mar 17 '20 at 17:18
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    Exercise books are full of poorly-considered and wrongly-constructed exercises. They always assume there's only one possible correct answer and all other possibilities are wrong. They are not to be trusted. – John Lawler Mar 17 '20 at 17:26
  • @Shoe, the question prompt was "Decide whether the sentences are grammatically correct and try to correct the ones that are not." And, as I mentioned earlier, the sentence in the exercise went "And now I'll announce a winner of the competition", and in the keys the corrected answer provided was "And now I'm going to* announce the winner of the competition."* – Stacy Mar 18 '20 at 12:07
  • Why was it corrected this way? There are rules for when to use going to and when to use will, but I'd guess that at least half the time when you use one or the other, either works just fine. The exercise book was probably composed by a non-native English speaker who has their own set of rules for which of these expressions to use, which does not match with native speakers' rules. – Peter Shor Mar 18 '20 at 12:40
  • Will is going to the store. – Hot Licks Mar 18 '20 at 14:27
  • @Hot Licks How is this relevant? – Stacy Mar 18 '20 at 14:39

2 Answers2

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The construction "going to" is very common in those situations where "about to" can also be used.

  1. The car's about to crash! --->It's going to crash! (YES)
    It will crash (YES but it has slightly less urgency.)

  2. I'm about to announce the winner ---> I'm going to announce the winner. (YES)
    I will announce the winner (YES but it has slightly less urgency)

  3. We arrived just as the movie was about to start ---> … just as the movie was going to start (YES)
    We arrived just as the movie [was] will start. (NO/UNGRAMMATICAL)

This usage to express urgency or say something is imminent, is common both in speech and in writing; the author of the exercise probably wanted to see if the reader/learner had understood this lesson.

Mari-Lou A
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My guess would be that both are correct, but the bottom one is more appropriate to the situation.

"I will" does not mean that I will (in the near future), but simply that I will do so.

"I'm going to" suggests that I will do so soon.

However, the word "now" means immediately, or in the very near future, so both "now I will" and "now I'm going to" should have the same meaning because of the word "now"

I'm not entirely sure if the answer key is correct or not, but I have a feeling that in this case it is not.

LilBluey
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