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CONSTRUCTION ‘TO BE GOING + INFINITIVE’
AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSING FUTURITY
KONSTRUKCJA ‘TO BE GOING + INFINITIVE’
JAKO SPOSÓB WYRAŻENIA FUTURALNOŚCI
Ihor Byk
Key words: futurity, modality, construction ‘to be going + Infinitive’, dominant meaning.
Słowa kluczowe: futuralność, modalność, konstrukcja ‘to be going + Infinitive’, znaczenie
dominujące
ABSTRACT
Construction ‘to be going + Infinitive’ as a way of expressing futurity has two
meanings: 1) temporal, that is a posteriority of an action and 2) and modal, that is
intention.
The temporal meaning of the construction is realized by in the following cases: 1)
when the subject of a sentence is expressed by a noun denoting non-living objects, by a
gerund or pronouns ‘it’, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘there’, ‘something’ etc; 2) when the infinitive of the
construction is used in the Passive Voice; 3) when the infinitive of the construction or the
sentence expresses an action independent of the will of the agent of the action, and its
realization will be necessary with a view of some objective reasons or the will of another
person.
The modal meaning of the construction is realized in the cases when the subject of
the sentence is expressed by a noun or pronoun denoting living beings in the following
cases: 1) when the construction is used in the past tense; 2) when the construction is used
with the second and third person subject; 3) when the construction is used with the first
person subject.
The dominant meaning in each particular case is often determined by the context
defining the logical stress of the sentence.
The use of this construction is stylistically limited: it is mainly used in informal
speech.
STRZESZCZENIE
Konstrukcja ‘to be going + Infinitive’ jako sposób wyrazenia futuralności ma dwa
znaczenia: 1) temporalne, czyli następstwo odnośnie aktu i 2) modalne, czyli zamiar.
Temporalne znaczenie konstrukcji realizuje się w następnych wypadkach: 1) kiedy
podmiot zdania wyrażono nazwami objektów nieżywotnych, gerundijem, albo zaimków
‘it’, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘there’, ‘something’ itd.; 2) kiedy bezokolicznik konstrukcji użyto w
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stronie biernej; 3) kiedy bezokolicznik konstrukcji albo zdanie w całości wyraża akt,
niepodległy od woli agenta aktu, i ich realizacja jest potrzebna z punktu widzenia jakichś
okoliczności objektywnych albo woli innej osoby.
Znaczenie modalne konstrukcji realizuje się w tych wypadkach, kiedy podmiot
zdania jest wyrażony rzeczownikiem albo zaimkiem, co oznacza osobę w następnych
wypadkach: 1) kiedy konstrukcja jest użyta w czasie przeszłym; 2) kiedy konstrukcja jest
użyta z podmiotem w osobie drugiej albo trzeciej; 3) kiedy konstrukcja jest użyta z
podmiotem w osobie pierwszej.
Dominujące znaczenie konstrukcji w każdym odrębnym wypadku często wyznacza
się kontekstem, jaki wyznacza logiczny akcent zdania.
Używanie konstrukcji jest stylistycznie ograniczone: używa się ona w większości w
mówieniu nieformalnym.
The category of futurity occupies a special place in the temporal system of a verb.
First of all, special attention should be paid to the specific meaning of future: while the
present and past tense forms express real facts that took or take place, future tense forms
do not denote any facts at all. Its sphere is the realm of possible, foreseen, planned, desired,
something which speaker expects will (not) happen. And because we know about future
much less, than about past or present, the means of its realization are defined not so clearly
as the means of realization of past or present ad they are more numerous.
Construction ‘to be going + Infinitive’ occupies a specific place in the system of
means of expressing futurity. It has two meanings: 1) temporal, that is a posteriority of an
action and 2) and modal, that is intention. These two meanings are not equivalent as to
their relevance: in every specific context one of them is dominant.
Formally, a grammatical center of the construction is Present Continuous of the
verb ‘to go’ (in this case the level of loss of meaning of the verb is very high, though not
complete. As I.Ivanova1 and R.A.Close2 write and the results of our own research show
this construction is not used with the verbs of movement, because such a combination
would have been tautology). Some linguists (Ch.Barber3, B.Strang4, R.L.Allen5) believe
that ‘to be going to’ is a secondary auxiliary. Others even include it in the paradigm of an
И.П. Иванова, Вид и время в современном английском языке, Ленинград 1961, с.57.
R.A.Close, The Future, London: Longman Group Limited 1969, p.22
3
Ch.Barber, Linguistic Change in Present-Day English, Edinburgh and London 1964.
4
B.M.H. Strang, Modern English Structure, London 1962.
5
R.L.Allen, The Verb System of Present-Day American English, The Hague – Paris: Mouton & Co 1966.
1
2
2
English verb as an auxiliary verb of temporal future constructions along with ‘shall’ and
‘will’ (M.Celce-Murcia, D.Larsen-Freeman6). The lexical center of the model is the
infinitive of a verb. It should be noted that partial loss of meaning of the verb ‘to go’ takes
place only if both conditions take place: it is used in the Continuous form and followed by
an infinitive of a verb. Thus in the following examples
I’ll have that cupcake if it’s going spare.
He is going to school.
It’s a secret, don’t go telling everyone.
A bell goes to mark the end of each class.
Which qualities go to make a good teacher?
It’s just goes to show, you never know what’s going next7
there is no loss of meaning of the verb to go as formal requirements to the construction are
not met.
Construction ‘to be going + infinitive’ expresses a future orientation of an action,
this future being implicitly expressed as potentially connected with the moment of speech.
The action expressed by the infinitive of the construction is not a statement of objectively
existing reality, but a personal point of view of a speaker. W.S.Allen in this connection
writes that ‘going to’ expresses not a simple futurity but add a shade of intent or feeling of
certainty on part of the speaker.8 It is in this peculiarity that the subjective modality of this
construction is expressed.
The specific meaning of the construction is defined by the infinitive and the lexical
environment.
The temporal meaning of posteriority is realized by the construction in following
cases:
1) when the subject of a sentence is expressed by a noun denoting non-living objects,
by a gerund or pronouns ‘it’, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘there’, ‘something’ etc:
His battleship was going to meet them just like in the old days, as if the
aircraft carrier had never come along [TC:204]
But calling to New York ain’t going to help you [MP: 193]
And nothing else is going to happen [MP: 85]
M.Celce-Murcia, D.Larsen-Freeman, The Grammar Book. An ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course, Newburry
House Publishers 1983.
7
The examples were taken from: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Harlow: Pearson Education
Limited 2000
8
W.C.Allen, Living English Structure, London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1956 p.122
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3
That’s gonna be his first reaction [MP:90]
There’s gonna be a hell of a lot of heat and trouble [MP: 149]
The lexical meaning of the subject, expressed by these forms, excludes the
possibility of the realization of the meaning of intention;
2) when the infinitive of the construction is used in the Passive Voice:
The Tattaglia Family is going to be wiped out [MP:97]
Solozzo was looking at him speculatively and suddenly Hagen knew that he
was not longer going to be set free [MP: 91]
3) when the infinitive of the construction or the sentence on the whole expresses an
action independent of the will of the agent of the action, and its realization will be
necessary with a view of some objective reasons or the will of another person:
They are going to have to get used to a wholly new acoustical signature
[TC: 181]
I don’t like losing the striking power, but what we’re going to need is more
ASW muscle [TC: 125]
I believe I’m going to have labor trouble [MP:60]
It should be noted that futurity in the above examples has a specific character: the
construction in these cases expresses a future action as a form of realization of the
present time, underlining as R.A.Close wrote, existing in the present indications to
what future may bring.9 This construction shows that the speaker hopes this action
will take place in the nearest future.
What concerns the modal meaning of intention of the construction, it is dominant in
its lexical meaning only in the cases when the subject of the sentence is expressed by a
noun or pronoun denoting living beings in the following cases:
1) when the construction is used in the past tense:
When they had finished the coffee he told her he was going to work that
night, and make phone calls and plans for the future [MP: 178]
This Operation MANDOLIN was racing forward before they knew what the
hell they were going to do, much less how [TC:118]
For five years I had this girl under training, singing, dancing, acting lessons,
I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was going to make her a star.
[MP: 62]
9
R.A.Close, The Future, London: Longman Group Limited, 1969 p.22
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As it can be seen from the above examples, the speaker speaks about his or
somebody other’s intentions concerning the past. The action expressed by the
construction is posterior to the described moment, but this futurity is expressed
through the intention of the agent of the action. In the third example this intentional
character of futurity is expressed more distinctly than in the first two. The use of
this construction in them allows its substitution with construction ‘should/would +
Infinitive’ but with a certain change of meaning:
… he told her he would go …
… before they knew what the hell they would do …
Such a transformation results in “pure” futurity, without additional modal meaning
of intention. In the third example such a transformation is impossible. The
construction ‘to be going + Infinitive’ may be substituted by verbs ‘to want’, ‘to
intend’ etc.;
2) when the construction is used with the second and third person subject thus
excluding the speaker. Unlike the cases in which this construction expresses an
action independent of the will of the agent of the action and its realization will be
necessary in view of some objective reasons or of the will of another person, the
context in such cases indicates that the speaker expresses assumption as to the
intentions of the agent of the action:
He says that Captain McCluskey is definitely on Solozzo’s payroll and for
big money. Not only that, but McCluskey is going to get a piece of the drug
operation [MP: 134]
“So, you’re teaching engineering at Annapolis now, eh?
“Yes, Sir. I got a doctorate in that along the way.”
“Name’s Td, Skip. And this morning you’re going to tell us how we can
hold onto that maverick Russian sub?” [TC: 198]
“Red October’s going to defect, isn’t she?” Tyler persisted [TC: 182]
In the above examples the forms of ‘is going to get’, ‘are going to tell’, ‘is going to
defect’ express speaker’s assumption concerning plans, intentions or wishes of the
subject of an action. There is no indication that the action will be performed
because of some already existing reasons or conditions. The substitution of the
construction ‘to be going + Infinitive’ by the construction ‘shall (should)/will
(would) + Infinitive’ in the above examples is impossible, as the meaning of the
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sentences becomes categorical and the meaning of assumption concerning the
intentions of the subject of the action disappears:
… McCluskey will get a piece of the drug operation …
… this morning you will tell us how we can hold onto that […] sub?
“Red October will defect, won’t she?”
3) when the construction is used with the first person subject, that is, when the notions
‘the subject of an action’ and ‘the speaker’ coincide:
Kay snuggled up to him and said, ‘After we’re married, will you beat me
and then steal a star for a present?’
Michael laughed. ‘I’m going to be a mathematics professor,’ he said [MP:
79]
Johnny Fontane sighed. ‘OK, you’re just a guinea peasant.’
‘And I ain’t gonna change,’ Nino said with charmingly drunken smile [MP:
190]
In the above examples it the intention to perform an action that is emphasized,
rather than the action itself. The substitution of the construction ‘to be going to’ by
the construction ‘shall/will + Infinitive’, as it was in the previous case, will shift
this emphasis to the action, which will change the general meaning of the
expression. But this construction can be substituted here by the verbs ‘to want’, ‘to
intend’, ‘to wish’, ‘to desire’, etc. Then the meaning of the sentence will not
change appreciably:
I intend to be a mathematics professor
I don’t want to change
In conclusion it should be noted that it is not always easy to differentiate which
meaning is expressed by the construction ‘to be going + Infinitive’ in a particular case. Of
great importance here is the context as it defines the logical stress of the sentence. Consider
the following example:
Michael was as closemouthed as his father. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I guess I’ll see you
Christmas, everybody is going to be out at Long Beach, right?’ [MP: 77]
The meaning of the phrase ‘everybody is going to be out at Long Beach, right?’ taken
separately can be treated both as temporal and modal. But the general context of the
utterance, especially the use of the verb ‘to guess’, indicates that the speaker expresses
assumption concerning the intentions of the subject ‘everybody’. Thus, the context plays a
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determinant role in the definition of the meaning of the ‘to be going + Infinitive’
construction, especially what concerns its modal meaning.
It should also be mentioned that the use of this construction is stylistically limited:
it is mainly used in informal speech. R.A.Close also recommends avoiding it in written
English10. Such stylistic limitation of its use is conditioned by the high level of the
subjective modality of its meaning, which is inadmissible in academic style, the main
features of which are precision and clarity of the layout of the material described, rather
than personal emotions of the author or his/her attitude to the events and phenomena
described. The author as such in an academic style is as a rule absent, while in fiction and
informal speech the author’s perception of the events described and his attitude to them
and to the characters are very important.
BIBLIOGRAFIA
1. Allen R.L. The Verb System of Present-Day American English. The Hague – Paris:
Mouton & Co, 1966.
2. Allen W.C. Living English Structure. London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1956
3. Barber Ch. Linguistic Change in Present-Day English. Edinburgh and London:
Oliver & Boyd, 1964.
4. Celce-Murcia M., Larsen-Freeman D. The Grammar Book. An ESL/EFL Teacher’s
Course. Boston, MA: Newburry House Publishers, 1983.
5. Close R.A. The Future. London: Longman Group Limited, 1969
6. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Harlow: Pearson Education
Limited, 2000
7. Strang B.M.H., Modern English Structure, London: Arnold, 1962.
8. Иванова И.П., Вид и время в современном английском языке, Ленинград:
Изд-во Ленингр. ун-та, 1961
Examples were taken from:
MP – M.Puzo, The Godfather, London: Pan Books Ltd 1977
TC – T.Clancy, The Hunt for the Red October, New York: Berkeley Books 1985.
10
Tamże, s.23
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