Use will for a decision made on the spot, while you are speaking, and for promises and simple predictions; use be going to when the decision was made earlier or when you can already see signs of what is coming. Both refer to the future, so the choice depends not on the date of the event but on when you made the decision.
will or be going to — can you pick the right one?
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will + verb (decision now, offer, promise; I think… will); am/is/are going to + verb (plan made earlier; Look, it's going to rain)
- We've already booked the flights, so we're going to spend a week in Rome in May.
- Your phone's ringing in the kitchen. Stay there, I'll get it.
- Look at those dark clouds. It's going to rain any minute.
What changed
First versionI've already bought the paint, so on Saturday I will repaint the kitchen.
RevisionI've already bought the paint, so on Saturday I'm going to repaint the kitchen.
Will is often treated as the default way to talk about the future. But the paint has already been bought, so the decision was made earlier, and this is a plan. A plan needs going to. I will repaint sounds like a decision that has only just come to mind, or like a promise.
A decision made during the conversation, or an offer to help, is expressed with will: — We've run out of milk. — Oh, I'll get some on my way home. If you answered I'm going to get some, it would mean you had planned to buy milk before this conversation.
Your turn
— Why have you got the ladder out? — I ___ change the light bulb in the hall.
Show the answer
am going to — The ladder is already out, so the person decided to change the bulb before anyone asked and is simply explaining a plan. That's why am going to. Will would sound as if they had only just thought of it, although they got the ladder out in advance.
Write two sentences about next weekend: one about something you have already planned, with going to, and one about a decision you are making right now, with will.
I'm going to visit my sister on Saturday. Her flat isn't far, so I think I'll walk there instead of taking the bus.
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