Is "going to" justified in this case?

Question

That mailing list is the first place you're going to hear about limited versions, new records on the label and more.

Why" going to "here not will: can we consider that the mailing list is a plan/ intention? or is it to express that it will happen very soon as in "the bomb is going to explode ?.

I would say that the first should be more plausible .However I think it is only a plan/intention for the writer and the people who have decided to subscribe, not for the others that they are not going to subscribe .

May be should we understand the sentence as " if you choose to subscribe,you will be on the mailing list and you are going to hear....... ". In this case it would become an intention / plan . Am I right ?

There are many errors in the question. Yves, I think the future continuous is being used. — Justin Stafford, Dec 29 '20 at 08:25
"am/are/is going to" can frequently be replaced by "will" and that is the case here. — mdewey, Dec 29 '20 at 13:16
but the choice of using going to or will is made by a logic or a rule not by chance — Yves Lefol, Dec 29 '20 at 13:21
@Yves Lefol No thre is no rule for when "will" should be used, and when "going to" should be used. — David Siegel, Dec 30 '20 at 00:20

David Siegel · Answer 1 · 2020-12-30T07:20:40.310

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This use of "going to" is a specil form of the future tense. See this article and this one. It is simi8alr to the future progressive (aka future continuous) but not the same.

It indicates that an event is expected to happen, any decision is already made. It is also used for predictions with little doubt. It does not necessarily i8ndicate a plan or intention, although sometimes it will, because when a plan has been made the choice is often already made of what to do. The use in the question is a pre4diction.

In many case including this one "will" can be substituted for "going to" with no change of meaning, the choice is a matter of style only.

The two statements:

the bomb is going to explode
the bomb will explode

have essentially the same meaning. The use of "going to" may imply that the event is expected soon, but not always. Consider:

The sun is going to go out -- after several billion years.

The use of "going to" rather than "will" may put more emphasis on the process, but again not always, and not in the case in the question.

edited Dec 30 '20 at 07:20

answered Dec 30 '20 at 00:17

David Siegel

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but when you google about the use of "going to" it is always written that if the decision has been made before you must use going to or if the event is expected to happen soon . I think you can use going to with the sun because there is a present evidence (the sciencist discovered that any planets or stars or whatever disappear one day ). – Yves Lefol Dec 30 '20 at 05:27
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@Yves Lefol I think you have misunderstood, or found poor sources. "Going to" may be most commonly used in the cases you mention, but in all of them "will" may be substituted. Also "going to" is informal, it is simply not used in formal writing. What specific source or sources are you relying on, please? – David Siegel Dec 30 '20 at 05:54
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https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplefuture.html for example but may be i haven't well understood – Yves Lefol Dec 30 '20 at 06:22
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@Yves Lefol Note that the use of "going to" in the question is a prediction which the englishpage site says may take either form. However I think that site lays out as rules what are at best mild tendencies. I would day that every case in which that site uses "wil" a "going to" form may be used freely and properly, and vice versa.. – David Siegel Dec 30 '20 at 07:19

Is "going to" justified in this case?

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