Future

​There are four different ways in English to talk about the future. You can use the simple future, the going to - future, the present progressive and the present pimple to write or talk about future actions. There is often only a little difference between the future tenses, especially between the going to - future and the present progressive. It also depends on the country and region and on the communication what future tense is used. In written English the simple future is usually used while in spoken English we use the going to - future more often.

Use of the Simple Future Tense

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1. to talk about future actions we can't influence or control.

2. to foretell future actions or to express hopes, expectations, fears, offers, promises and refusals.

Key words: I'm sure, I believe, I expect, I hope, I suppose, I think, I'm afraid, I wonder, I fear, I worry, I promise, I guess or perhaps, possibly, surely, probably, maybe

3. with I / we for spontaneous reactions or making promises.

I shall is sometimes used instead of I will.

Use of the going to - Future

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1. to talk about future things you intend to do, plan or decided to do.

Examples:

Did you know that Sarah is in hospital? No, I didn't. I'll visit her this afternoon.

(spontaneous reaction »»» will - future)

Yes, I'm going to visit her next month.

(planned action »»» going to - future)

2. to foretell future actions for which we have proofs that they are going to happen.

Use of the Present Progressive in the future

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To talk about future things that are fixed, planned or definitely decided.

The speaker must refer to the future and not to the present.

Examples:

I am visiting my grandparents tomorrow.

What are you doing next Friday?

Use of the Present Simple in the future

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To talk about times of arrivals and departures of traffic and times of events.

Examples:

The train leaves at 10.20.

The bus goes at 8.30.

When does the concert begin?

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will + be + ‑ing verb

The future progressive is formed by taking the modal will, the base form of the verb Be, and an action verb + ‑ing. Luckily, students don’t have to worry about subject–verb agreement because the Be verb doesn’t change forms after a modal.

What about the other two future forms? We can never use be + ‑ing verb instead of will (She is being eating dinner is clearly incorrect), but it is possible to use be going to instead of will (She is going to be eating dinner). Most people would agree that it’s a bit of a mouthful—sticking to will is best (She will be eating dinner).

Use

​The function of the future progressive is to show a continuing (long) action getting interrupted by a short future action. Using the words long and short helps students understand this use better. The reason the future progressive isn’t used that often is that it’s a little strange to try to predict what will happen exactly at a given moment in the future. Unlike the past, where we know what happened already, we don’t usually know for certain what will happen in the future.

​The time marker when is common for this case.

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• I will be sleeping when you arrive home from work next Friday night.

• They will be doing presentations in class when the practice fire alarm rings at 2:00 pm.

• The mayor will be finishing up her work when the power goes out at the scheduled time tomorrow.