Be Going To Stories with Exercises and Answers (Free PDF)

Dessert Before Dinner

Sora set four cloth placemats on the dining table. Beside each placemat, she placed a dessert spoon. Emre carried a pitcher of cold water from the kitchen. The apartment smelled of fresh mint and warm rice. Their two friends were already on the bus.

“Tonight, we are going to do something unusual,” Sora said, checking the clock on the wall. “Our friends are going to arrive at six, and everything is ready.”

Emre smiled, but he looked a little nervous. “Are we really going to serve dessert first?” he asked. “People usually eat dinner in the normal way.”

“Yes, we are going to start with berry pudding,” Sora explained. “Next, we are going to bring out baked rice. Finally, we are going to offer hot tomato soup as the last course of dinner.”

At six o’clock, the doorbell rang. Their friends walked into the warm apartment and hung their coats. They sat down at the table and saw the small dessert spoons.

One friend frowned at his spoon. “Wait, are we going to eat dessert now?” he asked. “Where is the dinner?”

“You are not going to get soup first today,” Sora smiled. “Emre and I made a plan. We are going to eat our dinner backward.”

Emre walked into the dining room carrying a heavy wooden tray. On the tray sat four tall glasses of chilled blueberry pudding topped with cream. Emre held the tray with one hand because he tried to close the door with his foot. The smooth tray tilted sharply toward the floor.

“Watch out! That glass is going to fall!” the other friend shouted, pointing at the wobbling pudding.

“Look at the edge! It is going to slide right off!” the first friend said, jumping up from his chair.

Emre stopped instantly. He used both hands and leveled the tray. The glass stopped near the wooden rim. “Whew,” Emre said with relief. “Nothing is going to spill on my floor tonight.”

He set the four puddings safely on the table. The purple berries looked sweet and fresh. “Now then,” Emre said, “who is going to try the first bite?”

“I am going to taste it right now,” the second friend said, picking up a spoon. “Sweet berries first. I like this idea.”

After they finished the pudding, Sora cleared the table. “Now we are going to eat the main dish,” she announced. She served four plates of warm baked rice with roasted peppers.

“This backward dinner is fun,” the first friend said as he finished his rice. “So, what are you going to serve for the last course?”

“Emre is going to bring the soup now,” Sora answered. “Soup is the final course of our dinner.” Emre brought four steaming cups of tomato soup. The warm broth was pleasant after the rice.

After the soup, Emre brought a teapot and mugs. Beside the tea, he placed a small surprise: a bowl of crunchy breakfast cereal with cold milk.

The other friend laughed and pointed at the bowl. “Are you going to eat breakfast cereal at nine in the evening?”

“Of course,” Emre smiled, pouring the herbal tea. “It is a playful extra treat. Since we started with dessert, we are going to finish with morning cereal.”

Questions

1. Why did the tray of blueberry puddings tilt sharply toward the floor?
2. What did Emre do immediately after his friends warned him that the dessert was going to fall?
3. What made the friends realize that dinner would not begin in the usual way?
4. Why did Emre decide to serve breakfast cereal at the end of the evening?

Be Going To Practice

1. In the sentence ‘Emre and I made a plan; we are going to eat our dinner backward,’ what is the function of ‘are going to’?
   • A prior plan or intention
   • A prediction from present evidence
   • An instant decision made while speaking
2. The wooden tray tilts sharply toward the floor and the pudding wobbles near the edge. Which sentence makes a prediction based on this visible evidence?
   • That glass is going to fall!
   • We are going to bring out baked rice next.
   • Our friends arrived at six o’clock.
3. Sora already arranged the schedule before the guests arrived: ‘Our friends __________ going to arrive at six.’
4. Look at the tray tilting toward the floor! The dessert glass __________ going to slide right off.
5. Unscramble the words to make a prediction based on present evidence:
   • fall!
   • is
   • That
   • to
   • glass
   • going

Your turn: Write 3–4 sentences about a special meal or party you planned with a friend. Use ‘be going to’ at least twice: once for a prior plan, and once for a prediction based on what you see happening right now.

Listen to this story (audio)

The Wall with No Faces

Selma unlocked the community room at eight in the morning. Sunlight touched the bare plaster wall. On Tuesday, the building manager gave her permission to paint it. She set jars of navy, mint, and cream paint on a table. “Today, I’m going to paint our community mural,” Selma said. She unrolled three large paper templates. “I am not going to paint ordinary faces. I am going to show our neighbors through their working hands.”

Bora walked in with two cups of coffee. He managed the community library down the hall. He stopped and stared at the paper sheets taped to the wall. “Good morning, Selma,” Bora said. “What are you going to do with these huge sheets? They look like strange trees. Are you going to paint a forest on our wall?” Selma laughed and took a cup. “No, I’m not,” she answered. “They are not trees. Look at the curved shapes again.”

Bora stepped closer to the wall. The long shape was not a tree trunk. It was a strong arm with a rolled sleeve. “I see fingers now,” Bora said. “Whose hands are these?” “That is our neighborhood bike repairer,” Selma explained. “He fixed my bicycle last week. Right here, his hands are going to tighten a silver wire on a wheel. Next to him, our baker is going to shape fresh bread.” “Is anyone going to play music?” Bora asked. “Yes, they are,” Selma smiled. “In the middle, our guitar player is going to tune a wooden guitar.”

Bora looked at the paint jars on the table. “What colors are you going to use for the wall?” “I am going to use mint green for the background and navy for the shadows,” Selma replied. Suddenly, a cool draft blew through the open window. Blue tape on the top template curled, and the paper sagged forward. “Watch out!” Bora pointed. “The tape is loose, and the template is going to fall!” “Oh no,” Selma said. “It is going to drop into the open paint jars!”

Bora quickly pressed his hands against the falling paper. Selma climbed the stepladder with a roll of masking tape. She pressed three wide strips across the top corner until the paper sat flat. “There,” Bora said, stepping back. “That paper isn’t going to move now.” “Thank you,” Selma said. “Are you still going to help me this morning?” “Yes, I am,” Bora answered. “The library does not open until noon, so I am going to stir the navy paint.”

Selma dipped her brush into the navy paint. For three hours, they worked side by side in the quiet room. Selma carefully painted the thin silver wire between the bike repairer’s fingers. Bora stepped back and wiped his hands on a clean cloth. “What are you going to paint tomorrow?” he asked. “Tomorrow, I am going to add the baker’s hands,” Selma answered with a smile. She cleaned her brush and set it on the wooden table. On the plaster wall, the bicycle wheel showed its clean, dark circle.

Questions

1. Why does Selma decide to paint working hands instead of ordinary faces?
2. What causes the paper template to peel away from the wall?
3. Why is Bora able to help Selma with the mural this morning?
4. What does Selma plan to paint on the mural tomorrow?

Be Going To Practice

1. Bora sees the tape peeling and shouts, “The template is going to fall!” Why does he use “is going to” here?
   • To make a prediction based on present evidence
   • To talk about a plan made yesterday
   • To describe a past event
2. Selma says, “Tomorrow, I am going to add the baker’s hands.” What does “am going to” express in this sentence?
   • A prior plan or intention
   • A prediction based on what she sees right now
   • An action happening at the exact moment of speaking
3. Complete the sentence with ONE word: Bora has free time before noon, so he __________ going to help Selma stir the paint.
4. Put the words in order to form a question:
   • paint?
   • are
   • What
   • to
   • going
   • you
5. Look at the corner of the paper slipping off the wall! It __________ onto the floor!
   • is going to fall
   • fell
   • falls

Your turn: Write 3–4 sentences about a project in your community, school, or home. Include at least one prior plan using ‘be going to’ and at least one prediction based on present evidence (something you can see right now).

Listen to this story (audio)

The Spacecraft That Planned to Crash: A True Story

In late 2021, NASA launched a small, uncrewed spacecraft named DART. By September 2022, it has traveled through deep space for nearly ten months and is approaching its destination. Two distant asteroids travel together in space. The smaller asteroid, Dimorphos, orbits around the larger asteroid, Didymos. An orbit is one complete trip around the larger rock. Neither space rock threatens Earth. Instead, NASA scientists have an exciting plan, and in September 2022 they are ready to explain exactly what the mission is going to do.

NASA is not going to land the spacecraft gently on the asteroid. DART is not going to collect rock samples. It is not going to carry human astronauts. So, what is the uncrewed spacecraft going to do? It is going to strike Dimorphos at high speed. Engineers planned every step of this mission long before the event. The intentional crash is going to test an important question: can a deliberate collision change the movement of an asteroid? The scientists expect the impact to shorten the time of Dimorphos’s orbit around Didymos, and the telescopes are going to confirm whether that actually happens.

On July 27, 2022, DART’s camera already spotted the Didymos system from millions of miles away. Now, in early September, NASA shares more details about the coming September 26 impact. During the final four hours of the approach, engineers on Earth are not going to steer the spacecraft. Instead, smart navigation software on the craft is going to guide the flight automatically. The camera is going to lock its view directly onto Dimorphos. It is going to send detailed pictures back to Earth right up until the moment of impact. The mission team is going to use these images to study the surface before the collision.

After the impact, scientists are going to begin their next planned steps. How are they going to know if the test succeeded? They are going to track both space rocks with powerful telescopes for several weeks. Astronomers are going to calculate the exact time of the new orbit. They are going to compare these new measurements with the original orbit time. Only then will the data show whether the collision changed anything.

On September 26, 2022, DART approaches its target at four miles per second. The final pictures arrive from space. Dimorphos grows larger and larger in the camera view. Gray boulders and dark shadows fill the entire frame. Then the radio signal from DART stops. The uncrewed spacecraft has struck Dimorphos after ten months in space, right on target.

On October 11, 2022, NASA announced the official results. Before the test, Dimorphos completed one orbit in eleven hours and fifty-five minutes. After the test, the orbit took eleven hours and twenty-three minutes. The collision successfully shortened the orbit by thirty-two minutes. DART did not destroy the asteroid, and it did not push it toward Earth. Instead, the mission proved that a planned impact can change an asteroid’s motion in space.

Questions

1. Why did NASA plan an intentional crash into Dimorphos?
2. Why were engineers on Earth not going to steer DART during the final four hours?
3. How did astronomers plan to determine if the collision changed the asteroid’s motion?
4. What consequence did the collision have on Dimorphos’s orbit around Didymos?

Be Going To Practice

1. NASA engineers scheduled every step of the mission in 2021. In the sentence ‘Smart software is going to guide the flight,’ what does ‘is going to guide’ express?
   • a prior plan
   • a prediction from present evidence
2. Look at the live monitor! Dimorphos is filling the camera frame right now. Which use of ‘is going to crash’ is emphasized by the speaker’s attention to this growing image?
   • a prediction from present evidence
   • a prior plan
3. NASA planned an intentional crash, not a soft landing. DART is __________ going to land gently on the asteroid.
4. The scientists arranged their schedule months before the test. They __________ going to track the asteroids with powerful telescopes.
5. Put the words in the correct order to express the scientists’ plan:
   • track
   • going
   • They
   • Didymos.
   • are
   • to

Your turn: Imagine a new science or space mission. Write 3–4 sentences about it. Use ‘be going to’ at least twice: once to describe a prior plan and once to make a prediction based on what you see right now.

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