Simple Future Tense

The tenses simply show the time of an action.

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE 

Simple Future Tense is used to construct sentences about future time ( time after now ).

In other words, Future Tense  indicates the actions which will occur in the future. “will”, “shall”  and “be going to” are auxiliary verbs of Simple Future Tense.

( The use of shall as an auxiliary verb has been greatly reduced in recent times. We see it only in formal writings )



STRUCTURE 

POSITIVE FORM (+) :  Subject ( I, You, He, She, It, We, You, They ) + will + V( First Form of Verb )

NEGATIVE FORM (-) :  Subject ( I, You, He, She, It, We, You, They ) + will not / won’t + V( First Form of Verb )

QUESTION FORM (?) :  Will + Subject ( I, You, He, She, It, We, You, They ) + V( First Form of Verb )

NEGATIVE QUESTION FORM (?) : Will not / Won’t + Subject ( I, You, He, She, It, We, You, They ) + V( First Form of Verb )

SHORT ANSWER FORMS : ( + / – ) : YES / NO + Subject ( I, You, He, She, It, We, You, They )+ will / will not (won’t)

[table]

POSITIVE(+) | NEGATIVE(-)  | POSITIVE QUESTION (?) |NEGATIVE QUESTION (?)

I will come | I will not ( won’t ) come | Will I come | Will not / Won’t I come
You will come | You will not ( won’t ) come | Will you come | Will not / Won’t you come
He will come | He will not ( won’t ) come | Will he come | Will not / Won’t he come
She will come | She will not ( won’t ) come | Will she come | Will not / Won’t she come
It will come | It will not ( won’t ) come | Will it come | Will not / Won’t it come
We will come | We will not ( won’t ) come | Will we come | Will not / Won’t we come
You will come | You will not ( won’t ) come | Will you come | Will not / Won’t you come
They will come | They will not ( won’t ) come | Will they come | Will not / Won’t they come

[/table]




ATTENTION:

In Simple Future Tense, we do not add any suffixes like –s, ed, etc. at the end of the verbs. We use will/shall/be going to as an auxiliary verb with first forms of the verbs after the subjects. (For “will” and “shall” without separating the subjects as singular or plural – the rule applies to all subjects in the same way)

CONTRACTIONS:

For “WILL”;

will –> ‘ll    Ex: I‘ll come back.

will not –> won’t   Ex: I won’t study.

For “SHALL”

shall not –> shan’t  Ex: We shan’t make any agreement.



For “BE GOING TO”

be(am/is/are) going to –> ‘m/’s/’re going to  Ex: She‘s going to buy a car.

be(am/is/are) not goint to –> ‘m/’s/’re not going to or isn’t/aren’t   Ex: They‘re not going to get a card. / They aren’t going to get a card.

Common Tense Markers:

Next week, month, year, summer, etc. / Tomorrow / Soon / Shortly / In the future / Tonight

The day after tomorrow /  In 2 days / In a week, 2 weeks / In 5 years

Examples:

  • Elizabeth will be a doctor soon.
  • Will you mary me?
  • I shall allow it.
  • Is the party going to be interesting?
  • My father will retire next year.
  • Paul will not ( won’t ) play basketball.
  • I am going to meet with Lisa tonight.
  • I will ( I‘ll ) call him as soon as possible.
  • We shall overcome the problems.
  • Will you come to the party?
  • We won’t live the house.
  • George will try to contact us next week.
  • They are not going to study math.
  • Will Lisa be here soon?



Note:

We use other question words ( Like Who, What, Why , etc.) in present tense.

Question Words (who, what, why, etc.) + will+ subject ( he, she, it, I, you, we, they) + V1  ( First Form of Verb )

Examples:

  • What will we do next week?
  • Where will they go next year?
  • When will I see you again?
  • How will we live on other planets?

FUTURE TENSE WITH “WILL”

USING OF SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE:

1. Simple Future Tense expresses future ( time after now ) actions. There is no planning. It is used when talking about the actions that will take place due to future conditions. (uncertain actions that will ocur or not and  voluntary actions)

Examples:

  • We will ( We‘ll ) see him.
  • Marry will go out.
  • I will ( I‘ll ) stay at home.
  • Will you visit your grandmother?
  • I will ( I‘ll ) write you.
  • Donald won’t play any games.

2. It is used for the action that is decided at the moment of speech. ( Decisions taken at the moment of speaking )

Examples:

  • A: I’m afraid we’re lost.
  • B:  I’ll stop and ask the way.
  • A: This book is really interesting.
  • B: Really? I’ll read it.
  • A: The door bell is ringing.
  • B: I’ll open the door.
  • You look very tired. I’ll make up a bed for you.
  • The load you carry is heavy, I will help you.
  • I have a headache. I’ll take a medicine.



3. It is used for the facts that are related to the future and we can not prevent them.

Examples:

  • Winter will come soon.
  • Summer will come again.
  • My son will be 3 next week.
  • Ally will be 15 next year.
  • The World will end in the near future.
  • The sun will set at 6 o’clock.

4. Future Tense is used for someone’s thoughts, hopes, predictions, assumptions, sureness, fears , about future events.

Examples:

  • I think this election will be a very important turning point in the history of the country. ( thought )
  • The weather will probably be hot. ( prediction )
  • This year will probably very interesting. ( prediction )
  • I hope you‘ll win the prize. ( hope )
  • I am sure they‘ll come back. ( sureness )
  • Perhaps he‘ll apologize for cheating. ( assumption )
  • I suppose it‘ll be easy. ( assumption )
  • I’m afraid we will get wet. ( fear )

5. Future Tense is used while offering, promising, ordering, threating, asking for a request

Examples:

  • A: The subject is very complicated.
  • B: I will help you understand it. ( offer )
  • I promise I won’t tell this anyone. ( promise )
  • You will start work at 8 o’clock sharp. ( order )
  • I‘ll kill your daughter if you do not leave your gun. ( threat )
  • Will you close the window? ( request ) – ( Will you…? form of the question for request )
  • Will you dance with me? ( request )

6. It is used with conditional, time and purpose clauses .

Examples:

  • If you give it to me, I‘ll give you what you want. ( conditional caluse )
  • If you marry me, I will make you happy for a lifetime. ( conditional clause )
  • When I arrive at home, I‘ll call you. ( time caluse )
  • After he eats something, he‘ll start to study. ( time caluse )
  • I’m calling firstly you so that you’ll hear it first. ( purpose clause )
  • The student works very hard so that she will get high scores. ( purpose clause )



Note:

Conditional clauses have two clauses which are main clause and if clause. We do not use “will” in if clause. We use “will” in main clause and simple present

tense in if clause.

Example :

  • If it rains, they won’t go out. ( not If it will rain… )

Time Clauses have two clauses which are main clause and time clause. As above, we also do not use “will” in time clause which is the clause with time words ( when,

after, before, until, once, while, as soon as, by the time, till ).

Example:

  • We will come home after we finish work. ( not …after we will finish work )

 

FUTURE TENSE WITH “SHALL”

The use of shall as an auxiliary verb has been greatly reduced in recent times. We see it only in formal writings. However, we can use or see “shall” as stated below.

Shall” is mainly used to make an offer and a suggestion or to ask for advice with subjects “I“ and “We”in questions.

Examples:

  • Shall I open the window? ( offer )
  • Shall we go to the theatre tonight? ( suggestion )
  • What shall I wear? ( advice )
  • What shall I tell her? ( advice )

FUTURE TENSE WITH “BE GOING TO”

For detailed expression about “Be Going To”

For Differences Between “Will” and “Be going to”

FORM  for “Be Going To”

POSITIVE FORM (+) :  Subject + BE ( am / is / are ) + going to + V1  ( First Form of Verb )

NEGATIVE FORM (-) : Subject + BE ( am / is / are ) + NOT + going to + V1  ( First Form of Verb)

QUESTION FORM (?) : BE ( am / is / are ) + Subject + going to + V1  ( First Form of Verb )

SHORT ANSWER FORMS ( + / – ) : YES / NO + Subject + be ( am / is / are ) OR be ( am / is / are ) going to + Not

 

Examples:

  • I am going to see him tonight.
  • Are they going to go to the party tomorrow?
  • He is not going to stay at the hotel.
  • Are you going to be a doctor soon? Yes, I am / No, I’m not

USING “BE GOING TO”

1. It is used to make prediction, especially when we can see something is about to happen.

Examples:

  • Clark and Lisa are engaged. They are going to marry next month.
  • He is a student. He is studying English at a university. He is going to be a english teacher next year.
  • Mary is pregnant. She’s going to have a baby soon.
  • Look at the black clouds in the sky. It’s going to rain.
  • Watch out! This vase is going to fall on you.



Note:

“Will” is also used to make prediction. However if there is an evidence, “be going to” is prefered instead of “will”.

Examples:

  • Perhaps it will rain. (It is just prediction. )
  • Look at those black clouds. It is going to rain. ( There is an evidence, most probably being rainly )

2. It is used to indicate planned actions.

Examples:

  • They have made reservations for their summer holiday. They’re going to spend their holiday in London.
  • The boss waits reports about incomes every month. So he is going to write a report the day after tomorrow for this month.
  • Jully is calling her friends for breakfast. She is going to make a delicious breakfast tomorrow.
  • I‘m not going to go out until this project is finished.
  • Mark is going to organize the celebration.

Note:

Will” is used for unplanned actions in future.

Examples:

  • I will fly to England. ( I don’t have a flight ticket or reservation. )
  • I have got a flight ticket to 3 o’clock tomorrow. I‘m going to fly to England.