Future Tense – Part 1

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a great summer and somehow survived the heat!
This month will be the first in a series of blogs focused on English grammar – to be specific future tense. And I hope this series of blogs will help you use future tense correctly in the future J

Some of the most common English mistakes I hear from my students at Smith’s School of English Miyakojima, is with the use of future tense.

Let’s look at two examples:

Example 1:
“I will meet my friend on Saturday” X (This is incorrect.)
“I’m meeting my friend on Saturday” O (This is correct.)

Example 2:
“I will take a bath tonight” X (This is incorrect.)
“I’m going to take a bath tonight” O (This is correct.)

So why do so many students make mistakes like these two examples, and use “will”?

Many junior and senior high students in Japan have been told that for future tense, they should use “will” or “be going to”. Moreover, they are told that there is not much difference between the two and that they can mostly be used interchangeably. This is incorrect.  That is similar to saying that apples and oranges are the same thing. Yes, apples and oranges are both fruits, but besides that they are very different. “Will and “be going to” are both used for future but beyond that point, they are used differently.

To make matters worse, these students are not told by their teachers that there in fact four different structures used to discuss future actions. “Will” and “be going to” are two of those structures but there are in fact two more!

I think it is easiest to learn how to use each structure for future by learning the situations that they are used in.

So, in English there are 4 choices for future tense that are used in 11 situations:

I/ will (6 situations)
II/ be going to (2 situations)
III/ present continuous + FTQ (2 situations)                   
(FTQ = future time qualifier word (eg. tomorrow, next week, in 2023 etc.)
IV/ present tense (1 situation)

I/ will

We use “will” for future in 6 situations:

Situation 1:
We use “will” at the moment we decide to do something.
** We usually say “I think I will….” or “I don’t think I will….” in this situation.

Ex1. I’m hungry. I think I’ll eat a sandwich.
Ex2. I’m tired so I don’t think I will go for a run today.
Ex3. I feel like eating beef tonight so I think I will make hamburger steak for dinner tonight.
Ex4. I don’t know what to do… I know!!  I’ll call Tom and ask him. He will know what I should do.

Situation 2:
We use “will” when we make a prediction that is NOT based on any current evidence or personal expertise.
** We often say “I think ~ will….” or “I don’t think ~ will…” especially when we make predictions about other people or when we make positive predictions about ourselves.
** For predictions that are based on some current evidence or personal expertise, we use “be going to”.
 
Ex1. I think she will like our present.
Ex2. I don’t think she will pass the exam.
Ex3. I think I will get a promotion soon.
Ex4. I don’t think they will be happy if they get married.

Situation 3:
We use “will be” or “won’t be” to talk about the location of people or things in the future.

Ex1. I will be in Tokyo this Saturday.
Ex2. The key will be in the mailbox when you arrive.
Ex3. A/ Where will you be tomorrow night at 8pm?
        B/ I will be at home at that time.
Ex4. He won’t be at work tomorrow because he is sick.
**We can also you “be going to” in this situation but “will” is more natural and more common.

Situation 4:
We use “will” for offers and we use “will” or “would” for requests.

Ex1. I will help you wash the dishes if you want me to. (offer)
Ex2. Will you help me wash the dishes? (request)
Ex3. I will pick you up at the airport if you want me to. (offer)
Ex4. Would you mail this letter for me? (request)

So, in this blog we studied the usage of “will” for future tense only. In the remaining blogs in this series, we are going to discuss the other three structures for future tense.

Goodbye for now!

Dan
Smith’s School of English – Miyakojima