Levi is going to celebrate Arbor Day
Today we are going to discuss Arbor Day and the Future Time Tense Phrase “going to.” The Future Time Tense “Going to” isn’t hard to use. Let’s look at an example:
On Arbor Day, individuals and groups are encouraged to plant trees. Nowadays, many people, in many different countries, observe this green holiday. Levi is going to celebrate Arbor Day too.
After reading the example, you may have deduced that the Future Time Phrase “going to” simply means somebody will do something in the future. In the above example, Levi will celebrate the occasion by planting a tree.
This can be rewritten as:
“Levi will celebrate Arbor Day.”
Both sentences are correct and have the same meaning.
A bit of grammar
How can I use the Future Time Phrase “going to” in a full sentence?
Although Future Time Phrases speak of events that will happen, the base form of the Verb is always used. In our example, the Verb “celebrate” is used, not “celebrating.”
Let’s look at a syntax tree where ‘S’ means a sentence, ‘NP’ means a Noun Phrase and ‘VP’ means a Verb Phrase. Looking at the syntax tree for today’s sentence, there’s nothing out of the ordinary about it. And, it can be easily reproduced following the below formula.
It’s as easy as Pronoun, Verb, Future Time Tense, Determiner (neither “the” nor “a/an” is needed in the above sentence), and a Noun. You thought I was going to say “ABC?” But, a Determiner is needed in Future Tense sentences like,
“I’m going to drink a coffee,”
because the speaker’s drink could be one of many possible coffees.
All this aside, the initial Pronoun and Verb can be replaced with “I am,” to change the sentence’s subject. If we did this, our new sentence would become:
“I am going to celebrate Arbor Day.”
Example of the Future Time Phrase “going to”
-Anthony is going to be in Europe next month.
-I’m going to graduate next year.
Let’s practice
Q1: Try making your own sentence.
Q2: Using “going to,” describe what will happen next year.
Q3: What is your family going to celebrate soon?
Eigooo the Chat English Training application
To improve your English, the best way is to practice every day.
Eigooo supports you with a 24/7 chat service with real teachers.
- You can chat with the teacher one-on-one.
- The teacher will make immediate corrections to your messages.
- No need to make a reservation. You can start whenever you want.
- The free trial is ready.
Sign up now and get free messages to try it out.
