Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[bajelena]

Tell me please what is the difference between these two expressions -
I am going to do something and I am about to do something ?

[admiral]

I am going to do something- I think I'm sure that I will do it.
I am about to do something- I have the idea but it's unsure.

no guarantee
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If I say "I love you" to someone, then I also have to say "I love inside you everyone else. I love the whole world because of you. I also love myself inside you"

[ebb]

imho they are virtually identical, except "about to" connotes a temporal proximity -- i.e. the future event is close in time.

"I'm going to study medicine after I gradudate from high school and college."

"I'm about to lose my mind over this calculus problem."

NB== I think our British friends simply say "graduate" rather than "graduate from" ....?????
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"This is insolence up with which I will not put." Winston Churchill, upon reading a newspaper�s criticism of his having ended a sentence with a preposition.

"You can get more with a kind word and a gun, than with just a kind word." Al Capone.

[asterix]

I am going to become a doctor. I am going to be a doctor eventually.
I'm about to become a doctor. I am studying to be a doctor and I am graduating in the near future.

[fatcat]

another example

I'm going to the store today= At some point today, I will go to the store.
I'm about to go to the store= Within the next few minutes, I'm leaving for the store.

hope this helps!