Grammar and Uncertainty
2023-10-06
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1Consider an unusual time in your life. Perhaps your country was having a financial crisis or a political crisis.
2Perhaps one of your family members became sick.
3In other words, you were facing an uncertain situation.
4How do you talk about such situations?
5That question will be the subject of today's Everyday Grammar.
6You will learn about questions and answers.
7You will also learn about verbs and expressions used to express uncertainty.
8Let's start with some important terms and ideas.
9Uncertainty means that something is doubtful or unknown.
10And, as the saying goes, life is full of uncertainties.
11We often ask friends, family, coworkers, or even strangers about their thoughts and expectations during uncertain times.
12There are two closely related questions we use in such situations.
13One involves "will" and the other involves "be going to."
14Although the questions have different wording, their meaning is the same. So, we have:
15What do you think will happen?
16What do you think is going to happen?
17The structures of these questions are complex.
18We have the question word "what," the helping verb "do," the subject "you," the verb "think," and then the future marker - either "will" or "be going to" along with "happen."
19We can also make our questions more exact by adding a noun or noun phrase after the word "to" near the end of the question.
20So, you might ask:
21What do you think will happen to______________?
22What do you think is going to happen to _________________?
23If your country has an uncertain financial situation, you might ask one of the following questions:
24What will happen to the economy?
25What is going to happen to the economy?
26If your brother becomes sick, you might ask a doctor one of these questions:
27What will happen to my brother?
28What is going to happen to my brother?
29These questions are open-ended. In other words, you are asking the person to give an answer that includes a lot of information.
30We have explored questions about uncertainty. But how do we give answers? Answers could involve expressions, some specific verbs and adverbs, as well as phrasal verbs.
31In terms of expressions, a person might say:
32I don't know.
33I have no clue.
34Verbs that we might use include hope, think, or doubt. Listen to these sentences.
35I hope the economy turns around quickly.
36I think the political disagreement will be solved quickly.
37I doubt the economy will continue to fall apart.
38And in the case of adverbs, we might use likely or unlikely, as in the flowing sentences:
39It is likely that the economy will crash.
40It is unlikely that the economy will crash.
41With phrasal verbs, we might use "look like" - meaning to seem to be something because of appearances.
42So, you might hear a person say:
43It looks like the government is going to shut down.
44It looks like that politician is going to win the election.
45In the examples, "look like" suggests that the speaker has formed an idea about the situation.
46When you say, "It looks like something is going to happen," you are saying that you think something is likely to happen, even if the situation is uncertain.
47The next time you read the news or watch a movie, pay careful attention to how speakers talk about uncertainty.
48Do the speakers use some of the terms and ideas we explored today? Or do they use different terms?
49With time, you will notice that uncertainty - and discussions about uncertainty - make up a large part of our lives.
50I'm John Russell.
1Consider an unusual time in your life. Perhaps your country was having a financial crisis or a political crisis. Perhaps one of your family members became sick. In other words, you were facing an uncertain situation. 2How do you talk about such situations? 3That question will be the subject of today's Everyday Grammar. You will learn about questions and answers. You will also learn about verbs and expressions used to express uncertainty. 4Let's start with some important terms and ideas. 5Questions about uncertain times 6Uncertainty means that something is doubtful or unknown. And, as the saying goes, life is full of uncertainties. 7We often ask friends, family, coworkers, or even strangers about their thoughts and expectations during uncertain times. 8There are two closely related questions we use in such situations. One involves "will" and the other involves "be going to." Although the questions have different wording, their meaning is the same. So, we have: 9What do you think will happen? 10What do you think is going to happen? 11The structures of these questions are complex. We have the question word "what," the helping verb "do," the subject "you," the verb "think," and then the future marker - either "will" or "be going to" along with "happen." 12We can also make our questions more exact by adding a noun or noun phrase after the word "to" near the end of the question. 13So, you might ask: 14What do you think will happen to______________? 15What do you think is going to happen to _________________? 16If your country has an uncertain financial situation, you might ask one of the following questions: 17What will happen to the economy? 18What is going to happen to the economy? 19If your brother becomes sick, you might ask a doctor one of these questions: 20What will happen to my brother? 21What is going to happen to my brother? 22These questions are open-ended. In other words, you are asking the person to give an answer that includes a lot of information. 23Answers about uncertainty 24We have explored questions about uncertainty. But how do we give answers? Answers could involve expressions, some specific verbs and adverbs, as well as phrasal verbs. 25In terms of expressions, a person might say: 26I don't know. 27I have no clue. 28Verbs that we might use include hope, think, or doubt. Listen to these sentences. 29I hope the economy turns around quickly. 30I think the political disagreement will be solved quickly. 31I doubt the economy will continue to fall apart. 32And in the case of adverbs, we might use likely or unlikely, as in the flowing sentences: 33It is likely that the economy will crash. 34It is unlikely that the economy will crash. 35With phrasal verbs, we might use "look like" - meaning to seem to be something because of appearances. 36So, you might hear a person say: 37It looks like the government is going to shut down. 38It looks like that politician is going to win the election. 39In the examples, "look like" suggests that the speaker has formed an idea about the situation. When you say, "It looks like something is going to happen," you are saying that you think something is likely to happen, even if the situation is uncertain. 40Closing thoughts 41The next time you read the news or watch a movie, pay careful attention to how speakers talk about uncertainty. Do the speakers use some of the terms and ideas we explored today? Or do they use different terms? 42With time, you will notice that uncertainty - and discussions about uncertainty - make up a large part of our lives. 43I'm John Russell. 44John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 45________________________________________________ 46Words in This Story 47specific - adj. special or particular 48phrasal verb - n. a group of words that functions as a verb and is made up of a verb and another short word