Grammar fix
a foregone conclusion
inevitable outcome
a result or decision that is certain to happen and cannot be avoided, often because everything leading up to it makes it obvious.
Hear it in context
Notice where the phrase sounds natural.
With their star player back on the team, victory was a foregone conclusion.
In my opinion, given the current trends in technology, it's almost a foregone conclusion that more jobs will become automated in the near future.
Fix the pattern
One small grammar move makes it sound right.
Not: It was a forgone conclusion.
Say: It was a foregone conclusion.
Spelled 'foregone' (fore + gone), not 'forgone'.
Which sounds natural?
Tap the one a native speaker would say.
The idiom packs 'obvious in advance' into three words; the paraphrase is clunky.
Build natural chunks
Words that usually travel with it.
a foregone conclusion
- by no means
- far from
- seemed
- treated as