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Are you going to be sick if you eat that? This clause "are you going to" is a future prediction so shouldn't it be better to use will

Is going to used as the event "being sick" is about to happen very soon this sentence was alone no context it is an example

http://www.grammar.cl/Notes/Going_To.htm

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  • "get sick" would be better than "be sick". Since you aren't sick yet, your statement involves a (possible) change of state, not a static state. – user3169 Jul 31 '18 at 20:59
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Usually 'to be going to' and 'will' are directly interchangeable, but there are times when they are not.

In your example, the are interchangeable.

In the following example the are not interchangeable:

I am going to France for my holiday.

You cannot replace 'going to' with 'will' in that sentence.

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  • @James The reason that you cannot replace going to with will in the sentence you give is because the former is used to mean travelling to and it's not followed by a verb as in going to see (where going to is used to introduce the main verb rather than acting as the main verb itself.). – Ronald Sole Jul 31 '18 at 16:47
  • @userr2684291 Will you be sick if you eat that? and Are you going to be sick if you eat that? are perfectly acceptable. I was commenting on the sentence in the question, not the new example in the answer. (Which is an exception, and makes a specific point.) And, yes, I do say, variously, it looks like it will rain and it looks like it's going to rain. As well as It's going to rain and it will rain. Within each pair, they mean effectively the same thing. – Jason Bassford Supports Monica Jul 31 '18 at 18:57
  • @Ronald Sole I agree with your comment. I was simply trying to ensure that the OP was aware that 'going to' cannot always be replaced by 'will', and I used the first example that came to mind in the late hours of the evening. – James Aug 1 '18 at 7:07
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There is no reason to make a sharp distinction between the use of "will" for predictions and "going to" for plans.

We use both "will" and "to be going to" for future predictions. Another page on grammar.cl says "You can use both will and going to for making predictions" and even uses the example "My stomach hurts a lot and I think I am going to throw up."

(transcribed comment from stangdon)

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