Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[kevinchan70]

Dear teachers,

I'm reading "The Town and the City" by Jack Kerouac now. I've come across with the sentence "I'm going to have to be leaving, it's almost nine o'clock." I was wondering why the writer chose to use this kind of sentence and what it's different from "I'm going to leave.../ I have to leave..."

Could you please explain and tell me when it'll be used? Thank you very much.

Kevin
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Looking forward to any helps on my English

[CP]

Kerouac tried to put realistic dialog into the mouths of his characters, and many of them were outside the mainstream -- Beatniks, don't you know? So they had to be cool and a little unconventional. And it showed in their dress, their manner, their speech.

This sentence is perfectly understandable if a little long-winded. It may indicate that the speaker doesn't want to really leave, but circumstances are forcing him to go, yet maybe he could be persuaded to stay a little longer.

If he wanted to leave, he'd just say, "Well, I must go now," and then he'd leave, and Kerouac would have written it that way.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Anuradha Chepur]

Yes, I think the "going to have to" construction stresses the unwillingness.
It does sound cool and unconventional.