Question: > 
> **Possible Duplicate:**  
> 
> [How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/21846/how-do-the-tenses-in-english-correspond-temporally-to-one-another)  
> 
> [Differences between ways to express future actions](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/57053/differences-between-ways-to-express-future-actions) 
> 
> 
> 

Does the below sentence indicate future tense or present continuous: 

> 
> I am going to school now.
> 
> 
> 

Has the action started and the speaker is on his way to school or has the action not started yet but is going to start right after the speaker finishes his statement?

Answer: 
When you are not sure about a certain usage of a phrase, it is good to use corpora such as
[Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)](https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/) to find out how the phrase is being used in novels, magazine articles, etc.

In this scenario, it is not wrong to use *make up my mind* since [ODO](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/make?q=make%20up%20my%20mind#make__75) suggests that it has the definition:

> 
> **make up one's mind**
> 
> 
> make a decision; decide: He made up his mind to attend the meeting.
> 
> 
> 

and COCA shows that the phrase *make up my mind about something* has actually been used though a better way to write it would be

> 
> I made up my mind *to* quit smoking.
> 
> 
> 

The word *resolve* has the meaning

> 
> **resolve**
> 
> 
> decide *firmly* on a course of action
> 
> 
> 

so if you want express that *I am determined to quit smoking* then *resolve* is a better word.

And yes, it would be better to write it this way:

> 
> I resolved to quit smoking.
> 
> 
>
Yes, both seem to be correct in this context. Though "make up my mind" would suggest you had conflicting opinions within yourself and you had to spend quite some time deciding on which.
"Resolve" seems to suggest a decision without having spent much time with different sides of the matter.