Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
The weather forecast says it ______ tomorrow.
a. was snowing
b. is going to snow
c. shall be snowing
d. snows

Answer 1

Hint: Look for pointers suggesting which tense to use. The actions have not happened yet in the given sentence. These pointers are indicators of a certain tense. The weather forecast generally gives us a warning about the weather that is coming.

Complete answer: Let us look at the given sentence first:
It describes an action that has not happened yet. This comes down to the weather forecast. The weather forecast is a system for predicting future weather. This means that the weather that we are trying to describe is going to happen in the future. So, we need a special construction of the future tense, as the simple future tense will not fit here.
For predicting anything, special construction of ‘be + going + infinitive’ is used.

Now, we know what we want in the given sentence. Let’s look at the given options:
a. was snowing - This construction is conjugated in the past continuous tense. This means that this cannot be used for a prediction, as this is not the tense we require. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b. is going to snow - This construction is the construction we require. It is the special construction we use for predictions. This is the required answer. So, (b) is the correct option.
c. shall be snowing - This construction is conjugated in the simple future tense. This means that this cannot be used for a prediction, as this is not the tense we require. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d. snows - This construction is conjugated in the simple present tense. This means that this cannot be used for a prediction, as this is not the tense we require. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note: We also use going to when we have the intention to do something before we speak. eg: (i)Jo has won the lottery. He says he's going to buy a Porsche. (ii) We're not going to paint our bedroom tomorrow. In these examples, we had an intention or plan before speaking. The decision was made before speaking.