English grammar: Tomorrow is going to rain

Question

Tomorrow is going to rain.

Well, that just sounds foreign to my ears. But apparently some speakers, including presumably(?) native speakers, seem to think it okay.

I can only naturally say:

Tomorrow it is going to rain.

Without "it", tomorrow becomes the subject of the sentence, and, although admittedly I am hard pressed to say what rains, ie what “it” really refers to (the sky? A cloud? The weather?), I never thought of it as being “tomorrow”.

My question- Is “Tomorrow is going to rain”:

1- Correct English

2- Incorrect but normal, common enough, English (like “She sang good” seems to be where I live).

3- Incorrect and rarely used English (ie strange to the vast majority)

4- Something no native speaker would say, except as a typo (I left an article out of a comment earlier today, so it sounds wrong to me on re-read, but I can no longer fix it)- ie clearly foreign

Examples:

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/tomorrow-is-going-to-rain-can-apply-terminator-sc-today-qa-21170.html

Claudia from Milwaukee, Wi writes,

05/23/2015:

Tomorrow is going to rain, can I apply terminator SC today.

http://10ejemplos.com/10-ejemplos-de-oraciones-going-to

También se usa para hacer predicciones, por ejemplo, sobre el clima:

Mañana lloverá: Tomorrow is going to rain.

https://www.alignable.com/north-chelmsford-ma/radiance-skin-care-salon/tomorrow-is-going-to-rain-which-means-youll-stay-inside-may-2014

Tomorrow is going to rain which means you'll stay inside anyway soo why not book yourself a massage?? Do it

Maybe you heard that little guy from Star Wars saying it ? - ray76, Jun 7, 2017

Answer 1

Bosque, I agree with Ken that the sentence: "tomorrow is going to rain' sounds bad ....ie: it sounds very awkward and it is not correct (good) English and hopefully, no self-respecting and well-educated English-speaking native would ever be heard using it!

The correct sentence that I have used myself and have heard correct variations of it is:

It is going to rain, tomorrow!

Variations:

Tomorrow, it is going to rain !

It's going to rain, tomorrow!

Tomorrow, it's going to rain!

Tomorrow, there will be rain!

There will be rain tomorrow!

It might rain tomorrow!

Other non-standard variations are nearly always incorrect and usually stem from ignorance, laziness or apathy! Non-natives' grammatical mistakes are usually due to misapplying /over-extending the grammatical rules of their own language to another language, in this case English. For example, Hispanic people often use double-negatives when they learn to speak English as this is permissable within the rules of their own language but in English we don't say/ it's not correct to say: I don't know nothin' (nothing) about the missing money! A well-educated English person would say: I don't know anything about the missing money! We don't use double-negatives in correctly spoken English, although you can still hear them used in street language in many regions of the UK, especially where people from other cultures whose first language is not English have come to settle.

English-speaking natives often do the same when they learn another foreign language eg Spanish, French, Italian or German etc......they assume that the other language functions exactly as their native language and wonder why they cannot effectively translate sentences literally 'word for word' and why can't they translate words like 'do' when they have no direct equivalent in Spanish or probably any other widely-spoken world language and are left untranslated!

Good post, Bosque

Thanks, Feliz. That makes it clear that it is not the norm in England either. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 5, 2017

You are welcome, Bosque :) - FELIZ77, Jun 5, 2017

Feliz: You are fortunate if the use of double negatives is confined to non-natives in the UK. I can assure you this is not the case in U.S. - it tends to be a function of education here...very common for non-college graduates / less affluent people. - DilKen, Jun 5, 2017

Ken, to be honest, I have to say I don't know how widespread the use of double-negatives is, you would expect to hear it spoken by teeange gang leaders, criminals, as well as people whose first language is not English. English grammar seems to be rarely - FELIZ77, Jun 5, 2017

well-taught in schools today, except possibly in grammar schools, and Public schools I went to an independent secondary school in Essex and was taught some English grammar but most of us probably didn't know why it was important to learn it! It only bacam - FELIZ77, Jun 5, 2017

became relevant and more meaningful when I seriously started learning Spanish and French grammar. - FELIZ77, Jun 5, 2017

Double negatives in the US is common in African-American & Southern English (ie. Confederate states). Whilst, double negatives in the UK is common mostly in Cockney & little in Estuary English. - NKM1974, Jun 7, 2017

Answer 2

"Tomorrow is going to rain" is incorrect English, as the "tomorrow" is expressing the time-frame and is not acting as a subjectual noun. The sentence should be written as "Tomorrow it is going to rain", with the "it is" being similar to the verb "hacer", conjugated as "hace". "Hace calor" = "It is hot"

Answer 3

Bosque:

I think it sounds horrible. I didn't read all of your examples, but the second one clearly comes from a Spanish speaker who is teaching English.

Because in Spanish, "it" is normally implicit in the verb conjugation, when Spanish speakers speak English at first, they often leave out the "it" and often leave out "he" "she" "they" "you" etc. Since Spanish verb conjugations and context frequently allow for the non-use of the subject pronoun they often mimic this when they start to speak English. I have taught English (ESL) to many Mexicans and speak from personal experience. In fact, this may be the most common and hard to rectify problem that exists in ESL. (At least when considering how simple this problem seems to a teacher)

One should say:

Tomorrow it is going to rain.
Tomorrow it will rain.
There will be rain tomorrow.
It may rain tomorrow.
It's going to rain tomorrow.
Rain is predicted for tomorrow.

Every sentence above has a subject. I can think of a couple of ways of speaking without using a complete sentence which sound OK to me and are quite common. (They don't even sound like Tarzan to me.)

¿Rain tomorrow? Probably.

Rain tomorrow! Not again!

But "tomorrow is going to rain" sounds horrible to me.

I agree, Ken, the last sentence sounds horrible! It almost makes me want to laugh, as it is silly and makes little or no sense, unless you undersand how it should be said! - FELIZ77, Jun 5, 2017

So clearly I am not the only one. If you do a search of that sentence in quotes, you will find that Duolingo is teaching that sentence to Spanish learners. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 5, 2017

The one I quoted that is Spanish, is another site trying to teach English to Spanish speakers. ;) - bosquederoble, Jun 5, 2017

Bosque: same phenomena that I spoke of in my post. The Duolingo lesson was probably written by a Spanish speaker who speaks English as a second language. :) Hopefully someone taking the course in reverse can set them straight with suggested correction. - DilKen, Jun 5, 2017

I have used Duolingo, though not so much recently to improve my Spanish, and French and learn Italian , Portuguese and Swedish. I have not come across that particular sentence yet! If I had done I would have challenged it! ;) - FELIZ77, Jun 5, 2017

I have already reached top level 25 in Spanish and French! - FELIZ77, Jun 5, 2017

Feliz: Have you done Duolingo in reverse with Spanish. (I am a Spanish speaker who wants to learn English.) It will be very easy for you to do and by frequently reading the comments you will learn a LOT of good Spanish and slang. - DilKen, Jun 5, 2017

Ken, I have never thought of doing that/learning in reverse. If I have some spare time I may do that! - FELIZ77, Jun 5, 2017

It is in the Spanish speaker learning English section and a sentence provided for Spanish speakers to translate the English to Spanish. First complaint about it 3 years ago, still there serving as a model. ;) - bosquederoble, Jun 5, 2017

Feliz, the English speaker learning Spanish is 90% translating Spanish to English. The Spanish speaker learning English requires you to mostly translate English to Spanish. Doing the Reverse tree is harder no matter which way you go, because you have to - bosquederoble, Jun 5, 2017

write mostly in the language you are learning, rather than the language you know. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 5, 2017

Answer 4

"Tomorrow" CAN be used as a noun, as in the sentence "Tomorrow will be sunny," and that is partly what makes the sentence "Tomorrow is going to rain" so bad. A native English speaker expects that a noun will precede the verb, and in the absence of "it" assumes that "tomorrow" is the subject. But wait . . . days have no agency; they can BE rainy, but they can't rain. B_A_Beder is correct; "tomorrow" is not the subject here, but an adverb.

To a native English speaker, it's a nonsensical sentence. Yes, it can be deciphered, and we can speculate that a native Spanish speaker might have written it, but it is still incorrect English.

Yes, tomorrow is going to be rainy is perfectly acceptable to me. But not raining. Good point. - bosquederoble, Jun 6, 2017

Answer 5

In a 40 year career in education - in a variety of circumstances - I heard and saw written many things. Never once did I hear or read, "Tomorrow is going to rain.

It's a no-brainer. :) - rac1, Jun 6, 2017

Nice to hear an Oregonian agreeing with me, as an Oregonian said that they had heard this expression. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 6, 2017

Answer 6

First, I agree that the sentence "Tomorrow is going to rain" is both incorrect English and it sounds horrible coming from a native or fluent English speaker.

I can see, though, a native Spanish speaker learning English, saying it or even writing it that way, especially because a personal pronoun is often not needed in Spanish.

Michel Thomas, a linguist who has taught courses in many languages, including Spanish, (I used one of his audio courses) was great at explaining such things. For example, he pointed out that one will often hear native Spanish speakers say "I see you tomorrow" because they often express a future action by using the present tense of the verb. He had many other examples of such things.

Bosque, are you seeing these in written form or only orally? If oral, I would consider the possibility that the person is saying "it's" but saying it rather fast such that it sounds like "is." I tried saying the sentence a few times just now, and it sometimes sounds like I'm saying "is" instead of "it's."

Have a great day!!

Winkfish: Bosque provided several links where is was written. - DilKen, Jun 6, 2017

I said something similar to what you wisely pointed out regarding subject pronouns in Spanish. Your comment about present tense doesn't apply to this situation, I don't think because "going to" is informal future but it is certainly a true statement. - DilKen, Jun 6, 2017

This is a sentence that Duolingo asks be translated from English to Spanish. This is the given sentence. Moderator response to complaints that the English is incorrect is as follows: - bosquederoble, Jun 6, 2017

Just because you are unfamiliar with how someone might say something in one English speaking region doesn't mean it's "bad" necessarily. It just means it's different. - bosquederoble, Jun 6, 2017

I am simply trying to figure out where it is not "bad" English. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 6, 2017

So far no one has told me it sounds good where they live. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 6, 2017

It is normal for a Spanish speaker to not hear the "t" in "its" - consonants are far less emphasised in Spanish so listeners are not listening for them and may miss them. - ian-hill, Jun 6, 2017

The moderator leaving the above comment was a native English speaker. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 6, 2017

Bosque: So, Duollingo is saying, in essence, it doesn't matter if it is not proper grammar as long as enough people say it that way. Next thing you know they'll accept "I don't never" for the same reason. - DilKen, Jun 6, 2017

I found numerous English grammar websites that state that this is a dummy it which must be including when talking about the weather, for example. Next time your complain ask them about I don't never :) - DilKen, Jun 6, 2017

I have decided not to complain or suggest there anymore, nor do the new part of the tree that is so rife with errors and frustration. And just us it for what I have always- To practice rapidly writing simple sentences. - bosquederoble, Jun 6, 2017

I meant "use it" not "us it". It makes me wonder if the Spanish examples they use are correct. :( - bosquederoble, Jun 6, 2017

I left DuoLingo because of all the errors. If the English was as error-ridden as I could plainly see it was, what did that suggest about the Spanish? I'd rather not have to unlearn bad Spanish. It's hard enough to learn it right in the first place. - AnnRon, Jun 7, 2017

Answer 7

London to a brick it's not going to rain. tomorrow.

And I will take that as it's a no go in Australia as well. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 7, 2017

Answer 8

"Tomorrow is going to rain" is wrong. "Tumaro is góin tu réin". sounds like a Latino trying to say, "Tomorrow it's (it is) going to rain.". I have never heard a native English speaker say it without the "it". Is not true this?