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A: what are your plans for next holiday ?

B: I (will take - are going to take - am taking) a course in English.

Could anyone choose the right answer?

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  • 1
    I am taking, not are taking. Otherwise, all three choices are grammatically correct.
    – user6951
    Sep 29, 2014 at 14:33
  • 2
    Are you doing a test by any chance @Hamza?
    – JMB
    Sep 29, 2014 at 14:39
  • 1
    @CarSmack - are taking is not an option. Also, "I will take a course next holiday" does not sound very authentic to me.
    – JMB
    Sep 29, 2014 at 14:40
  • 1
    @Hamza, if you're doing a test, please state your own thoughts and conclusions regarding the question, even if you're not 100% sure. Sep 29, 2014 at 14:50
  • I think perhaps that 2nd option has a typo in it: "are going to take" <== "am going to take". (Typo in both the title and the text.)
    – F.E.
    Sep 30, 2014 at 8:10

1 Answer 1

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You have several excellent comments to your original post (such as from CarSmack, JMB, CopperKettle and F.E.) and much of what I am about to say is mirrored there.

  • I [will take] a course in English.
    This may not be a form commonly used by native speakers, but it's a perfectly valid grammatically. Native speakers will generally prefer to use the following form:
    • I will be taking a course in English.
  • I [are going to take] a course in English.
    As CarSmack and F.E. state, this is incorrect because it uses the wrong form. They are both forms of the word be, with am being the singular first-person (indicative), and are the plural simple. You want one of the following instead:
    • I am going to take a course in English.
    • We are going to take a course in English.
  • I [am taking] a course in English.
    This is perfectly acceptable English. This either denotes intent (which is more commonly expressed as "I am going to take...") or current conditions that extend into the future (you may not have begun attending the class, but the moment you've been properly registered for it you can be described as "taking" the class).

So to bring it back to your original question, "will take" is grammatically correct and matches the question's tense most closely, "am taking" is grammatically correct, and "are going to take" is grammatically incorrect.

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