Be To, Be Due To, Be About To
I can distinguish an official arrangement, an expected schedule and an imminent event.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Choose a short recording.
Start with the contrast
The chair is to announce the result at the meeting. The meeting is due to begin at three. The chair is about to speak now. These expressions concern the future, but they do different work: formal arrangement, scheduled expectation and immediate imminence.
Read the situation transcript
The chair is to announce the result at the meeting. The meeting is due to begin at three. The chair is about to speak now. These expressions concern the future, but they do different work: formal arrangement, scheduled expectation and immediate imminence.
Which expression tells us the action is on the verge of happening?
Compare your idea
Is about to speak presents it as imminent.
How it works
Be to plus infinitive often presents an official arrangement or instruction. Be due to plus infinitive presents an expected scheduled event. Be about to plus infinitive presents imminent action.
They are not freely interchangeable. A scheduled event can be far away, whereas about to normally suggests a very short interval in context. Due to followed by a noun can instead express a cause; distinguish the construction before assigning a meaning.
Official arrangement: be to + base. Scheduled expectation: be due to + base. Imminence: be about to + base.
Notice this
The chair is to announce the result.
This sounds like a formal arrangement.
Compare this
The meeting is due to begin at three.
This gives the expected scheduled start.
Hear the examples
The chair is to announce the result.
This sounds like a formal arrangement.
The meeting is due to begin at three.
This gives the expected scheduled start.
The chair is about to speak.
The action is imminent.
The delay is due to a missing document.
Due to plus a noun phrase expresses cause here.
One mistake worth avoiding
Instead of: The meeting is due to beginning at three.
Say: The meeting is due to begin at three.
In the scheduled-event construction, to introduces an infinitive.
You say
Hear the prompt, answer aloud, then deliberately reveal or hear one possible model. Check it and retry with a changed detail.
Your turn 1
Make a formal announcement about an arranged event.
Compare a possible model
Reveal the model text
The panel is to publish its decision on Friday.
Check yourself: Use the formal arrangement reading.
Retry with one detail of your own. Other wording is welcome when it meets this check.
Your turn 2
Give a scheduled expectation without guaranteeing it.
Compare a possible model
Reveal the model text
The discussion is due to begin at three.
Check yourself: Due to does not establish actual punctuality.
Retry with one detail of your own. Other wording is welcome when it meets this check.
Your turn 3
Contrast scheduled expectation with immediate imminence.
Compare a possible model
Reveal the model text
The meeting is due to begin at three; the chair is about to speak now.
Check yourself: Do not use about to for a distant date without a context supporting that perspective.
Retry with one detail of your own. Other wording is welcome when it meets this check.
Two guided self-checks
Say or write your answer before opening a model.
Self-check 1
Classify due to: “The delay is due to a missing document.”
Compare a model and explanation
Cause, not a scheduled event.
A noun phrase follows due to here.
Self-check 2
Make this imminent: “The chair will speak very shortly.”
Compare a model and explanation
The chair is about to speak.
About to places the event on the verge of happening.
Check your understanding
Choose one answer to each question, then check your answers. One of the ten questions is listening.
Automatic scoring needs JavaScript. Use the answer key after attempting all ten questions.
Answer key with explanations
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The meeting is due to ___ at three.
begin: The scheduled-event construction takes a base verb after to.
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The chair is about ___ the result.
to announce: About to plus base expresses imminence.
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Which expression most clearly sounds like a formal arrangement?
The chair is to announce the result.: Be to commonly presents an official arrangement in this context.
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Does “due to begin at three” prove the meeting started punctually?
No: It states the schedule or expectation, not the later actual outcome.
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In “The delay is due to a missing document”, due to expresses ___.
cause: The following noun phrase names the cause of the delay.
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Correct “They are about to leaving.”
They are about to leave.: Use the base form after about to.
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Which phrase best fits someone already raising a microphone to speak immediately?
She’s about to speak.: The visible immediate context supports imminence.
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What time is the meeting expected to begin?
Three: Due to begin at three states the expected time.
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Which statement preserves the difference?
The event is scheduled for three, but it may start late.: Schedules and imminence are viewpoints, not guarantees or fixed stopwatch intervals.
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What should determine your choice?
The kind of future relation and the register you need: Arrangement, schedule and imminence are different meanings.
Take it with you
I can distinguish an official arrangement, an expected schedule and an imminent event.