Grammar exercises
Vocabulary tests
Future Tenses
THE SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE
Form
Affirmative Negative
I will (I’ll) I will not (I won’t)
You will (You’ll) You will not (You won’t)
He will (He’ll) He will not (He won’t)
She will (She’ll) She will not (She won’t)
It will (It’ll) It will not (It won’t)
We will (We’ll) We will not (We won’t)
You will (You’ll) You will not (You won’t)
They will (They’ll) They will not (They won’t)
Will is used with all persons, and shall can be used as an alternative with I and We in pure future reference. Shall is avoided with you and I:
You and I will work in the same building.
Shall is more usual in British English rather than in American English, and its negation is shall nor or shan’t.
The uses of the Simple Future Tense
a) We can use will:
1. to predict events, to say what we thing will happen or to invite prediction:
They will win the game on Saturday.
It will rain tomorrow.
2. If we want to express what we believe or guess to be true
You will be Dr. Smith, I assume.
That will be the postman at the door now.
This will be your bag, Jane.
3. to express characteristic behaviour:
She will never go to bed without eating an apple.
John will never clean his own shoes.
He will always ask silly questions.
4. In formal style for scheduled events:
The wedding will take place at St. Andrew on June 27th. The reception will be at the Anchor Hotel.
5. To express hopes, expectations etc:
I hope she will get the job she applied for.
b) Future Simple Tense can also be expressed through the Present Simple Tense or the Present Continuous Tense
They are leaving tomorrow at 10 a.m.
The train arrives at 5.45 p.m.
Compare:
They leave tomorrow at 10 a.m. - - in this case they didn’t decide on their own to leave, some other circumstances made them to, for example a hotel room must be emptied till 10 a.m. so they have to leave the hotel, or the train leaves at 10 a.m. so they have to catch it or something like that.
They are leaving tomorrow at 10 a.m. – in this case subject (they) made some previous plans to do the action (to leave), it is arranged action.
The present simple tense (not present continuous!) is used to express the future with following verbs: begin, end, depart, arrive, come, go, stop, leave, open, close.
c) Expressing future with or without intention. In this case we use will + infinitive or be going to.
Will, in terms of intention, expresses only sudden decision or intention at the moment of decision:
Somebody is ringing. I’ll answer the door.
Sir, do you want tea of coffee? –I’ll have tea, please.
I will take taxi. –Don’t bother. I will drive you.
But in the last example, if the action of driving is mention again, the speaker will use present continuous (because it is something arranged) or be going to:
He is driving me/ going to drive me tonight.
Compare:
I’m going to sell my car. (he didn’t find the buyer yet, but he already decided and maybe made an announcement)
I’m selling the car. (this is something arranged- he has already found the buyer and made a deal with him about the selling of the car)
d) Expressing the future by means of the be going to form
The be going to form is used to express the subject’s intention to perform a certain future action. This action is always planned and we can see some preparations for it.
It’s going to rain. (we already see dark clouds in the sky)
I am going to meet Mary at the station at six . (probably Mary doesn’t know)
BUT I am meeting Mary at the station at six. (this is already arranged and Mary knows)
FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE
Form
The future continuous tense is formed with will/shall + be + the –ing form.
I will/shall (I’ll)
You will (You’ll)
He will (He’ll)
She will (She’ll)
It will (It’ll) be standing, playing, expecting, ...etc.
We will/shall (We’ll)
You will (You’ll)
They will (They’ll)
The uses of the Future Continuous Tense
It is used:
1. For a future event, to express duration at some point in time. This is an action which starts before that time and probably continues after it. The thing that is important is the stated point in time:
What will you be doing tomorrow at 2 p.m.?
This time tomorrow, they will be travelling to France.
2. For a future event, to express its duration over a longer period:
He’ll be sleeping for the rest of his life.
3. To emphasize closeness to the present:
He’ll be sailing to America soon.
4. The future continuous can be used with a verb in the simple present tense:
When John arrives, Mary will be preparing the lunch.
Compare:
I am seeing Mary tomorrow. (arrangement)
I will be seeing Mary tomorrow . (routine action)
Also, the difference is that the present continuous tense must be always used by an adverbial of time expressing the near future:
We are seeing his parents tomorrow.
The future continuous tense, however, can be used with or without a definite time and can refer either to the near or distant future:
We will be seeing his parents tomorrow/ next year/ some time.
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
Form
The future perfect tense is formed with will have + the past participle (the third part of the verb)
I will/shall
You will
He will
She will
It will have walked, told, seen, bought.... etc.
We will
You will
They will
The uses of the future perfect tense
This tense refers to future-before-future time. Sometimes it would be more correct to say that this tense refers to past-to-future time. Here usually the duration is included.
1. It is normally used with a time expression signalling at, by, or before which time a future event will be completed.
On May 7 he will have lived there for 5 years.
At the end of this month his mother will have been a pensioner for 10 years.
When John gets home, Mary will have passed her exam.
2. If the future end point is a time by which some future event will be completed, the time expression by is used:
By the end of June he will have read all the books on the reading list.
I will have retired by the year 2020.
3. If the future end point is a time before which some future event will be completed, the time expression before is used:
Before John gets home, Mary will have already gone.
Can I speak to Mary tomorrow at 9 a.m.? –I’m afraid that Mary will have gone to work long before then.
FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
Form
The future perfect continuous tense is formed with will have been + the –ing form.
I will/shall
You will
He will
She will
It will have been walking, talking, going, moving, buying....etc.
We will
You will
They will
The use of the future perfect continuous tense
This tense s used to express:
1. Duration of a single event in the future which takes place before another future event:
They will have been flying over Paris for two hours before any runaways are empty for their landing.
2. Like the future perfect, it is normally used with a time expression beginning with by:
By the end of the next year, I shall have been living in Sarajevo for ten years.
Compare:
By the end of the school year we will have been reading books for nine months.
-we will read till then and continue reading, the emphasis is on expressing time- till then it will be nine months since they started reading
By the end of the school year we will have read 70 books.
We will complete the action of reading 70 books.
Grammar lessons
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Articles
- Nouns
- Numbers
- Prepositions
- Pronouns
- Verbs tenses
- Present Tenses
- Present Simple Tense
- Present Continous Tense
- Present Perfect Tense
- Present Perfect Continuous Tense
- Past Tenses
- Past Simple Tense
- Past Continuous (Progressive) Tense
- Past Perfect Tense
- Future Tenses
- The Simple Future Tense
- Future Continuous Tense
- Future Perfect Tense
- Future Perfect Continous Tense
- Verbs
- Stative and dynamic verbs
- Transitive and intransitive verbs
- Reflexive verbs
- Full verbs and auxiliary verbs
- Modal verbs
- Indirect speech
- Passive
- Conditional