Teacher Discussion Forums

In one of those 'choose the correct form of the verb' exercises, the students (now studying the future with Will, going to, present continuous) are supposed to choose between:

a) Are you going to travel abroad next year?

b) Are you travelling abroad next year?

Though maybe a) sounds more appropriate I find both natural.

I am interested in the opinion of a native speaker. Would you say both or just one?

I also tell them that the going to and the Present continuous forms for the future have a similar use.

Thanks

I imagine the writer of the exercise thinks we should choose (a) because it says next year, but there's nothing wrong with (b) either.

cftranslate wrote:In one of those 'choose the correct form of the verb' exercises, the students (now studying the future with Will, going to, present continuous) are supposed to choose between:

a) Are you going to travel abroad next year?

b) Are you travelling abroad next year?

Though maybe a) sounds more appropriate I find both natural.

I am interested in the opinion of a native speaker. Would you say both or just one?

I also tell them that the going to and the Present continuous forms for the future have a similar use.

Thanks

Both.

The Present Continous is used for definite plans - that is to say the future event is securely anchored in the present.

"going to' here implies intention - that the future event is an intention that goes from the present.