Basic Clause Patternsate temporal adverbial may also be used to express a planned future event:
I am having a birthday party this year. Grandpa is coming to visit next week.
John is leaving on the six o’clock bus.
Modals
We can use modal verbs + infinitives to express how likely a future situation
is: I will/may/might leave. Or whether it is required: I must/should leave. Or
permitted: I may leave. Or (physically) possible: I can lift that for you.
Exercise
The following paragraph is (a slightly amended) part of the small print
from an advertisement for a Southwest Airlines Visa card that ap-
peared in Newsweek (January 21, 2008: between pp. 52-3). (a) Identi-
fy all of the expressions in the paragraph that refer to future time. (b)
When is that future time? (c) Why is will used as the primary expres-
sion referring to the future in this paragraph? (d) Besides being part
of an ad, what other genre(s)/domain(s) does this paragraph belong
to? (e) Why do you think the will future is appropriate for that/those
genre(s)/domain(s)? (f) There are several clauses/sentences that do
not refer to future time. Identify those clauses/sentences and iden-
tify their tense(s). Discuss why the writer(s) of this text used those
tenses where they did.
You will earn 2 Reward Dollars for each $1 of net purchases made
directly from Southwest Airlines, including flight purchases and
Southwest Airlines Vacations package purchases. You will earn
2 Reward Dollars for each $1 of net purchases at participating
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Preferred Hotel and Rental
Car Partners. You will earn 1 Reward Dollar for each $1 of all
other net purchases. Each year you will receive 2,400 Reward
Dollars (2 Rapid Rewards credits) after your Anniversary. “An-
niversary” means the year beginning with the date of your ac-
count opening through the first statement after the anniversary
of the date of your account opening, and each twelve months
thereafter. Once you earn $1,200 Reward Dollars you will re-
ceive 1 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit.