Four future forms
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Depression is the inability to
construct a future. |
May was not referring to constructing future forms in English but the effect is often surprisingly similar.
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A note on language differences |
English is slightly peculiar.
You knew that but the reference
here is to the fact that there is no obvious future tense in English.
English is not alone in this.
Some languages, such as Greek, Mandarin, Hebrew and so on, have ways of
referring to the future which don't demand a change to the verb form but
rely on context and co-text to make the meaning clear. Greek uses
a little particle (tha), Mandarin relies mostly on adverbs such as
tomorrow, next week etc. and Hebrew verbs are very different
indeed. Many Germanic and Scandinavian languages have ways of
making the future (often employing the verb to go or to
become) but also habitually use the present tense with an adverb
marker to talk about the future (e.g., I go tomorrow). Italic languages, like
French, Spanish and Portuguese do rely on changes to the verb and
therefore have real future tenses so we get, for example, the French
aimerai and the Spanish amaré (both meaning I will
love).
Knowing how your students' first
languages work is very helpful when you are teaching in this area.
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Task 1: think of the four most common ways English uses to talk about the future. Click here when you have a list. |
Here are the most common ways English refers to the future.
| Future simple | Voluntary actions or promises (these actually refer to current willingness primarily) | I'll write soon I'll do the washing up There's no butter! I'll go and get some. |
| Predictions based on experience or hunches | This will be difficult | |
| Certainty about the future | I will be 45 next birthday | |
| going to | To express current intention | I'm not going to put up with it |
| To express prediction based on current evidence or past experience | Look at those clouds. It's going to rain any minute | |
| Present progressive | A future which is currently arranged | I'm seeing the doctor tomorrow |
| Present simple | Schedules which are always, i.e., currently, true | The train arrives at 8 |
Notice the use of the word current in the middle column. There is a strong argument, made elsewhere on this site, that most of the forms above are actually present tenses which refer to future events or states. The only truly future form is the one used for prediction and certainty.
There are some more forms you may have thought of (such as He'll be working, He'll have finished or even I will have been working) but they are the subject of a separate guide. In this guide we will consider the four most commonly taught forms (above).
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the will / shall form |
| The sun will rise at 6:45 |
The first thing to note is that these are modal auxiliary verbs as well as
markers for future time and it's sometimes almost impossible to separate
the functions. If you have done the section on modal auxiliary verbs, you
will be aware that one of will's main functions expresses
intention as in
I'll write as often as I can
Is
that a statement about the future or a statement of intention (a
promise)? The answer will depend on the context but in both cases
will refers to now.
The second thing to note is that learners often use this as the
default choice. There are two reasons:
a) it is the form they first encountered for the future
b) it is the form most clearly identifiable as a tense and a natural
choice for people from many language backgrounds
will or shall?
Traditionally, shall for the future is restricted to the 1st
person singular and plural:
I shall see him
We shall arrive late
In modern English, the forms are very restricted, arguably
to formal use in Southern British English only. It may be
important for learners studying or living in that setting to know the
form but it will rarely be heard elsewhere. However, questions
such as:
What shall we do today?
Where shall I put
this?
and the question tags
shall I?
shall we?
are still
very common.
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Task 2: please stop now and consider these sentences which all contain this form. How would you explain the differences? Click here when you have an answer. |
| The Grand National will be run on Saturday. |
| I'll never get him to spend the money. |
| I'll write to find out so you don't need to. |
| That'll be our neighbours' dog you can hear. |
the neutral future
will is often called the neutral future because it indicates
little or nothing of the speaker's viewpoint (but note the comment above
about the verb as a modal
expressing intention). It is used for a fixed, certain future
event:
At the third
stroke it will be 6:25 precisely.
The show will begin at 5:30.
The sea will eventually erode the cliff.
The Grand National will be run on Saturday.
etc.
the predicted future
This is allied to the idea of the neutral future but is more often used
to refer to the speaker's experience of the world allowing a prediction
to be made:
I'll be home by six as usual.
There'll be hell to pay later.
She'll certainly disagree.
I'll never get him to spend the money.
etc.
This is the function persistently seen in conditional
sentences such as
He'll be angry if you don't
get it finished.
The central idea of a conditional sentence
is that an event is predicted from
a condition.
the spontaneous future
Traditionally, this is explained to learners as being used when a
decision has just been made on the basis of something heard such as
There's no butter left
or
John doesn't know where we live
It is, however, probably best seen as will acting as a modal
and expressing willingness or intentionality right now (see above):
I'll get some from the corner shop.
Don't worry, I'll call him later.
I'll write to find out so you don't need to.
Other uses of will such as
expressing:
stubbornness
He
will interrupt all the time
deduction
That'll be Sheila at the
door
That'll be our neighbours' dog you can hear
or requests
Will
you wait a minute, please?
are actually nothing to do with
futurity and should be taught separately – they are modal uses of
the verb. Mixing them up with future forms will confuse, not
clarify.
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the other three forms |
| I think it's going to rain |
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Task 3: please stop now and consider these sentences which all contain one of the remaining three forms. How would you explain the differences? Click here when you have an answer. |
| I'm going to see the dentist. |
| I'm seeing the dentist tomorrow. |
| It's going to be cold. |
| When they arrive tomorrow John is bringing them home. |
| The flight leaves at 7. |
| I am 65 next April. |
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the going to future |
| going to take the train |
This has been called 'the future fulfilment of the present' (Quirk and Greenbaum 1973:48). I.e., it is a future based on present events. It is probably more easily understood as a present tense which links current plans and intentions to the future. There are three main uses:
- present intention:
When are you going to tell me?
I'm going to see the dentist.
This use of the form is usually used with people as the subject of the verb and it denotes a personal view of the present situation and the future that arises from it. It is concerned with the speaker's current, present intention, not the speaker's view of the future per se. - present evidence:
The traditional way to present this use in class is via a picture, with the statement
She's going to have a baby
This usually gets the message across that the form is used to talk about a future which is based on current evidence.
Less entertainingly, you could use a picture of rain clouds (see above) and the statement
Look, it's going to rain
This form is, in contrast to intentionality, often used with non-animate subjects:
The weather's going to turn nasty
The rope's going to break
The money is going to run out
It's going to be cold
etc. - past experience:
This is sometimes considered a sub-set of the present evidence idea.
In sentences such as
He's going to be very upset
we are not expressing his intention but predicting his reaction based on our current knowledge and experience of him. Similar examples are:
It's going to be really cold at that time of year in Toronto
The meeting's going to go on a long time
She's going to get very angry.
His lecture's going to be interesting and entertaining
etc.
The form in this use is often interchangeable with will used for a predicted future (see above) and the meanings are very close. For example:
He will be happy when he finds out
my prediction based on the fact that the news is welcome and
He's going to be happy when he finds out
my prediction based on the fact that the news is welcome and I know something about him
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the present progressive |
| taking the stairs |
This form denotes a present anticipation of a future based on an arrangement, a
programme of events or a plan. Some typical examples are:
I'm leaving on Sunday
my travel plans are booked and arranged
You are teaching in room 5
that's the timetabled programme for the day
I'm having lunch with the boss tomorrow
it's arranged and in the diaries
John is bringing them home
he's agreed and committed himself
Two things to note:
- Because the same form is used to refer to the present, it is often necessary to make the time apparent by inserting some kind of marker such as tomorrow, when I've finished this, later etc.
- This form is very commonly used with dynamic verb uses such as
arrive, go, take off, drive, play, take etc. and far less
frequently used with state verbs such as hope, expect, enjoy,
live etc. In fact, it's hard to imagine
I am living in England
referring to anything except present time or
I am arriving
referring to anything except future time (leaving on-the-train mobile calls aside).
The use is especially common with causative expressions such as
I am having my hair done
or
I am getting the house painted
probably because such events clearly depend on arrangements between suppliers and clients.
Warning: there is
considerable overlap between the progressive and the going to
formulation. In many cases, the forms can be used
interchangeably with going to referring to arrangements in
particular in, e.g.:
We decided I'm going to cook this
evening.
Note, too the famous song lyric with its reference to having
tickets and a reservation.
Gonna take a sentimental journey
Gonna set my heart at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
To renew old memories
I got my bag, I got my reservation
Spent each dime I could afford
Like a child in wild anticipation
I long to hear that: "all aboard!"
For more on the times when the forms are not interchangeable see the guide to talking about present time. The discussion occurs there because the forms are both present tenses related to future events.
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the present simple |
| the flight leaves at 06:25 |
- Timetabled events. This is often the only type taught and
it refers to events such as
The train arrives at 6:20
The flight leaves at 7
but there are actually two more discrete uses: - Following subordinate clauses. Two types of clauses are
important:
- conditional clauses which are introduced by words like
providing, unless, if etc.
if he comes tomorrow
Unless we miss the train
Providing the flight arrives on time
etc. - time clauses which are introduced by words such as when,
whenever, until, as soon as, before etc.
before you leave
as soon as they arrive
when they arrive
etc.
- conditional clauses which are introduced by words like
providing, unless, if etc.
- When an event is of unusual certainty:
night follows day
tomorrow is Wednesday
when is the eclipse?
I am 65 next April
etc.
There is a guide to teaching these 4 future forms in the in-service training section of this site. It assumes knowledge of the above.