by Alan Townend3. Future tense or «Jealousy».................................................
There is a common belief that the only way to express the future in
English is to use the two little modal auxiliaries «will» and «shall».
Sure they play a major part in this function but there are other ways
too of expressing the future. Below you will see 6 ways of expressing
the future. I won't call it the «future tense» because that restricts
your thinking about how to talk or write about something that is not
now but next:
going to
This way you can express a personal intention or make a prediction
about what you know/feel/see as in these sentences:
I am going to stop smoking this year. The sea is going to be very
rough this afternoon, so don't go swimming.
Future Simple
Back to «will» and «shall». With these two words plus the infinitive of
a verb you can express: a future fact, a sudden decision, an offer, a
threat, a promise, an opinion about the future, a probability
especially after think, suppose, expect, doubt if.
Here are a few examples:
Tomorrow will be my birthday.
It's all right I'll get the shopping.
I will take you in the car if you like.
I'll stand by you whatever happens.
I suppose we'll manage without the car.
Present Continuous
This is almost the same as «going to« but it's not quite as personal.
Look at this:
The Government is thinking about introducing a new law.
Present Simple
We use this when we are thinking of the certain future, something
already arranged as in a timetable or programme:
Your train leaves in ten minutes.
Is to/Are to
These are used to express an instruction or something arranged
officially. Here is an example:
The finance ministers are to meet next month to discuss the crisis.
About to/Due to
We use these when we want to describe actions that are expected to
happen, usually fairly soon. An example:
The 100 metre race is about to start any minute now.