Fundamentals Of English Grammar

-4 SUKENESS ABOU.I'l'HE FU.IUKE

100% sure

90% sure

50% sure

(a) I wiN be in class tomorrow. OR

I am going to be in class tomorrow.

@) Po willprobably be in class tomorrow.

OR

Po is pmbably going to be in class

tomorrow.

(c) Anna pmbably won't be in class

tomorrow. OR

Anna probably isn't going to be in

class tomorrow.

Ali mqy come to class tomorrow, or

Ali may not come to class tomorrow.

I don't know what he's going to do.

(e) Maybe Ali wiN come to class, and

maybe he won't. OR

Maybe Ali is going to come to class,

and maybe he isn't.

In (a): The speaker uses will or be going to

because he feels sure about his future activity.

He is stating a fact about the future.

In @):The speaker uses probably to say that

he expects Po to be in class tomorrow, but he

is not 100% sure. He's almost sure, but not

completely sure.

Word order with probably:*

(1) in a statement, as in @):

helping verb + probably

(2) with a negative verb, as in (c):

probably + helping verb

May expresses a future possibility: maybe

something will happen, and maybe it won't

happen.** In (d): The speaker is saying that

maybe Ali will come to class, or maybe he

won't come to class. The weaker is messing.

Maybe + wilUbe going to gives the

same meaning as mqy. (d) and (e) have the

same meaning.

Maybe comes at the beginning of a sentence.

*See Chart 1-3, p. 9, for more information about placement of midsentence advabs such as WbabEy.

**See Chart 7-3, p. 193, for more information about may.

EXERCISE 8. Sureness about the future. (Chart 3-4)

Directions: Discuss how sure the speaker is in each sentence.

1. The bank will be open tomorrow.

+ The speaker is very sure.

2. I'm going to go to the bank tomorrow.


3. I'll probably go to the post office too.


4. I may stop at the market on my way home.
   5. Ms. White will probably be in the office around nine tomorrow morning.
   6. MI. Wu will be in the office at seven tomorrow morning.
   7. Mr. Alvarez may be in the office early tomorrow morning.
   8. The sun will rise tomorrow.
   9. I'm going to go to the art museum this Saturday, and I may go to the natural history
   museum too.


5. Abdul is probably going to come with me.

60 CHAPTER 3