Fun with Future Tenses

2024-12-13

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1
  • For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar.
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  • This week, we are going to talk about the future tenses.
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  • There are several ways to talk about future events in English.
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  • Compared to the past and present, future tenses are usually more flexible.
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  • Let's start with will. To form the simple future, use will and then the simple form of the verb.
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  • For example, "I will go to the store."
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  • In everyday conversation, will often gets shortened, which can be difficult for English learners to hear.
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  • For example, "I'll leave tomorrow" or "He'll go to the store."
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  • You can use will to express a desire to do something.
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  • "I'll help you move tomorrow" or "I'll answer the phone."
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  • The second form of the simple future is be going to.
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  • For example, "I am going to start a new job tomorrow."
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  • Use be going to when you already have a plan to do something.
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  • When you say "I'm going to start a new job tomorrow," you made the plan in the past.
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  • If you do not have a plan, use will.
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  • If you are making a prediction about the future, you can use will or be going to.
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  • You can say, "She will win the election" or "She is going to win the election"-the meaning is the same.
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  • In casual conversation, most Americans will change going to to gonna.
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  • Be careful with this expression.
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  • You might want to avoid using the reduced form, gonna, in formal situations.
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  • You should never use it in professional or academic writing.
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  • Another way to express the future is with shall.
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  • Shall has the same meaning as will to express the future.
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  • Listen to a famous speech by American General Douglas MacArthur.
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  • General MacArthur is talking about his escape from the Philippines during World War II.
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  • "When I landed on your soil, I said to the people of the Philippines whence I came, 'I shall return.'"
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  • "I shall return" is one of the most famous quotes related to World War II.
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  • But these days, shall seems very formal and a bit old-fashioned in American English.
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  • It is more common in British English.
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  • Sometimes a present tense can express the future.
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  • Imagine you have a flight to Chicago tomorrow.
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  • There are several ways to express the future in this situation.
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  • Since you have a plan, you can use be going to.
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  • "I am going to fly to Chicago tomorrow."
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  • You could also use the present progressive, "I am flying to Chicago tomorrow."
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  • The meaning is almost the same.
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  • The present progressive just emphasizes that the flight is a scheduled event.
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  • If you are referring to a fixed schedule or timetable, you can even use the simple present to express the future.
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  • For example, "The flight to Chicago arrives at 7:00."
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  • The simple present here shows that the flight has a regular set schedule.
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  • Let's move on to the future progressive.
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  • To form the future progressive, use will be followed by the -ing form of the verb.
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  • For example, "I will be working when you arrive."
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  • Use the future progressive to talk about an event that will be in progress (or unfinished) in the future.
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  • Speakers use the future progressive to talk about more than one future action.
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  • For example, "Don't call me after 9:00 because I will be studying" or "I will be sleeping when you get home."
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  • There are other ways to express the future, such as the future perfect and future perfect progressive, but they are rare.
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  • A native speaker may never use them in an entire lifetime.
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  • Let's look at some common mistakes we see in all of the future tenses we have discussed.
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  • First, remember that you cannot use will in a time clause.
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  • For example, "I am going to visit her when I will arrive" should be "I am going to visit her when I arrive."
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  • The when phrase, also known as a time clause, uses the simple form of the verb in a future tense.
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  • Another common mistake is with the third person -s.
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  • "He will meets me tomorrow" should be "He will meet me tomorrow."
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  • There is quite a bit of flexibility with future tenses; sometimes there is little or no difference among different forms.
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  • If you have a choice, use the simplest tense.
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  • For VOA Everyday Grammar, I'm Jill Robbins.
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  • And I'm Jonathan Evans.