We're in danger of arguing a usage issue here if we're not careful. My father uses 'going to go' all the time. 'I'm going to go and water the plants', or 'I'm going to go and wash the car', rather than 'I'm going to water the plants', or I'm going to wash the car'.

It's just his style. He's a native Brit and a retired university lecturer.

To put it in a slightly different usage context, my father would say something like - "We're not sure where we will go on holiday next year, but we think we're going to go to Europe"

He would only use "We're going to Europe" after he'd bought the tickets.

I remember posting something here a while ago about the use of 'going to'. I can't be bothered to look so I'll just mention it again.

The question was for Grade 7 and the lesson was delivered by a Chinese English teacher.

Fill in the blank with the correct answer.

"We ____________a party next Saturday"
a) are going to have
b) are having
c) will have

If you answered b or c, then you got the big red X. Talk about demoralisation? Jeez!

I'd say b is wrong, whereas a and c are both correct.

I'd say, grammatically speaking, that 'going to somewhere' should only be used in the same way as 'doing'. Both are present continuous forms of the verbs.

Example 1 - a friend happens to see you on a bus.

Where are you going?
I'm going to the zoo.

Example 2 -

What are you doing?
I'm writing a letter to my uncle.