"Will" or "going to" or both, which one is correct (or more natural) in these specific phrases?

Question

Are the following phrases correct? If both "will" and "going to" could be used, which one is more natural?

1. It's raining. Don't go out. You'll get wet / You are going to get wet

To me both sound fine, but shouldn't "going to" be the more natural one?! Because it's 'something that is going to happen'

---

2. The future situation is uncertain. What do you think it will happen? / What do you think it is going to happen?

Here "will" sounds better, but I think I heard also the phrases: "I tell you what it is going to happen" or "Oh my God, what's going to happen to our jobs now?"

---

3.A. Joe: Oh, I've just realised I haven't got any money. Ann: Well don't worry I'll lend you some.

But let's say Ann says:

3.B. hmmm... (she thinks for a while, then she decides to lend him some money) ok listen Jim, I'm going to lend you some money for tonight.

Is this one correct too?

---

4. We are going to leave at about 9 o'clock then. / We'll leave at about 9 o'clock then.

I'm clueless about which one is the right one.

Answer 1

1.It's raining. Don't go out. You'll get wet / You are going to get wet

Both mean the same thing. In this example, You will = You're going to.

As to which is more natural, this is a matter of opinion. To me, the more natural is the conversational, and the conversational uses the fewest syllables. Ergo, "you'll get wet."

2.The future situation is uncertain. What do you think it will happen? / What do you think it is going to happen?

For starters, the it does not belong in either sentence as written. By removing the it, both become good English. However, in terms of which is more natural, I would chose the conversational, "What do you thing happens?"

If you are stuck using one of the two sentences, they need to be rewritten as:

1. What do you think will happen?
2. What do you think is going to happen?

Knowing my Law of Least Syllables, I prefer sentence one.

3.A. Joe: Oh, I've just realised I haven't got any money. Ann: Well don't worry I'll lend you some.

3.B. hmmm... (she thinks for a while, then she decides to lend him some money) ok listen Jim, I'm going to lend you some money for tonight.

British English, but no Oxford comma? Come on, mate, snap to it, then :)

Sentence 3-A is, of course, the conversational route, but it needs a spot of tidying up: "Well, don't worry; I'll lend you some."

The sentence proper is, "I'll lend you some," with the "well" being emotive and "don't worry" being parenthetic. The semi-colon acts as the Coordinating Conjunction and.

The for tonight bit in sentence two could imply that it must be paid back by morning, which is not very friendly like. Otherwise, it is redundant.

4.We are going to leave at about 9 o'clock then. / We'll leave at about 9 o'clock then.

These are the same, with sentence two being more conversational. You can say the same thing in even less words with, "We'll leave around nine, then."

Cheers.

Answer 2

Both mean pretty much the same thing. One could argue over subtle differences in connotation, but I don't think there's any clear, widely-recognized difference.

BTW Your second example should be "What do you think will happen? / What do you think is going to happen?" The "it" doesn't belong, because the clause already has a subject: "what". We say, "What will happen?" NOT "What it will happen?" Similarly for more complex sentences.