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Imagine that my friend calls me and we have the conversation while I am on my way to school (I'm walking at the moment of speaking):

-Where are you?

-I am going to school.

I know that "I am going to school" means:

1) that I'm preparing to go and I probably at home yet;

2) that I'm going to school next year (to start my education).

So how to say correctly that I am on my way to school using the verb "go" and present continuous. Is it possible at all?

Thanks.

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  • Where are you? ~ Home! Where are you going? - School!
    – Maulik V
    Commented Mar 22, 2018 at 8:25
  • @Maulik I can say it that way, but I'm interested in using the verb "go" in this situation.
    – Alwind
    Commented Mar 22, 2018 at 15:35
  • To be honest, I think that the context (you're answering the question "Where are you?") is enough to make it clear that "I am going to school." means "I am presently en route to the school." The other interpretations wouldn't really answer the question, so I would be inclined to discount them if I were the listener.
    – Admiral Jota
    Commented Oct 29, 2019 at 17:25

3 Answers 3

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In your situation, if you use "to go", you will get some ambiguous meaning, one way or another.

It is perfectly fine to say:

I am going to school now.

Notice the addition of "now", which gets rid of some ambiguities.

Other ways, not using "going to" are:

I am on the way to school.

I am walking / driving to school.

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0

It depends on the context given by the question. Some options:

What are you doing?
I am going to school.

vs.

Where are you?
I am at the store near my house. (where does not indicate a direction or movement)

vs.

What are your plans?
I am going to school in September. (or)
I will be going to school in September.

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1
  • @ser3169 Good examples, but what about my question "how to say correctly that I am on my way to school using the verb "go" and present continuous"?
    – Alwind
    Commented Mar 22, 2018 at 15:36
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To say you are going to school now and not that you only plan to, you can says:

I'm going to school right now.

Or you can avoid "going to" and say something like:

I'm going toward the school.

According to Google "I'm going toward" is not that unusual.

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6
  • "I'm going toward the school." is grammatically correct, but very strange.
    – virolino
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 9:51
  • @virolino, the OP was insisting in a sentence that would include the verb "go." I think I wrote it just right.
    – Jan
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 9:53
  • You are overstating the case. When we use going literally, followed by to, this is potentially ambiguous, but this does not mean that you need to avoid doing so. In context, it can be perfectly clear ("Where are you going? I'm going to school"), and sometimes we can make it clear by choice of other words "I'm going to school right now". Sometimes it will remain ambiguous, and we need to use other words to be clear ("I'm on my way to school").
    – Colin Fine
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 9:55
  • The "go" is OK. The "toward" is the troubling part. And I think it should be "towards".
    – virolino
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 9:55
  • @virolino: towards is UK, toward is US, so both can be correct.
    – Jan
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 9:57

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