The time is so uncertain that we do not know what will happen tomorrow, next year or next century. However, you always use some phrases to express many things that will happen in a near or far future according to different ways life is seen.
These phrases use the modal verb “will.” In this section, you will learn to use will to express the Simple Future tense.
Simple Future “will” is used to express a spontaneous decision, an opinion, hope, uncertainty or assumption, a promise, an action in the future that cannot be influenced or conditional clauses in the three basic forms: affirmative, negative and interrogative.
Click on each image to show its description. Use the arrows to see the rest of the images to see the general content of the topic about simple future:
Earth-Dreamers. (2017). Night Drive. Retrieved from: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Night-Drive-695122158
You can commonly find simple future in texts you read with its diverse uses and forms. Now you are going to read about some ideas for next Christmas in different places around the world. What place will they visit?
Schwarzenberger, M. (2015). Snow man. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/es/hombre-de-la-nieve-invierno-tapa-592022/.
One of the uses of the simple future is for making promises. In this activity, listen to a phone conversation between Janis and her mother, then answer the questions
n.a. (2012). Phone call. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/es/llamada-llamar-a-celular-15758/.
Remember, you can use the simple future to make predictions in whatever situations.
Revista ARQHYS. (2012). Arquitectura futurista. Equipo de colaboradores y profesionales de la revista ARQHYS.com. Retrieved from: http://www.arqhys.com/arquitectura/futurista.html.
simple future is a tense used to express plans that may be done or not. Now it is your turn to make a vital invitation to travel to an unusual and strange place: Mars
Шумский, B. (2016). System. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/es/sol-planeta-el-sistema-solar-cosmos-1506019/
It is common to use the simple future to make predictions about the weather, so, you are going to do a review about it.
Sadsidssodadsaidsidsoughtsod. (2015). Stormy weather. Retrieved from: http://imgur.com/gallery/ZfrH37n
According to the simple future forms and its structures, order the following sentences giving some ideas about your plans for 2030.
Ballesteros, A. (2016)
By the end of this topic you will:
Use the modal verb will in affirmative, negative and questions from different cultural contexts to express promises, predictions and favours.
Now, you will identify the different uses that "will" has, as well as its structures.
Will is a modal verb used to form the simple future and to talk about future actions. You always have to use will following a verb in the simple form. It is important to say that will is the only form for any pronoun, besides you can use the contraction. You can also add some words like tomorrow, next week (month, year, summer, Monday, weekend,...), in 2020… etc.
Affirmative form of simple future:
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arrive |
next Monday |
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For example:
I think this book will be amazing.
I will read some books in Literature class next semester.
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Gifss.com. (n.d.). Gifs de profesores. Retrieved from: http://www.gifss.com/profesiones/profesores/
To talk about Future actions in negative, you have to use the modal verb Will and add the particle "not". It is too similar to the affirmative way.
will not, |
arrive |
next weekend. |
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For example:
• I promise I won’t arrive late again.
• Rabbit will not arrive to his date.
Giphy. (2013). Rabbit. Retrieved from: https://giphy.com/gifs/alice-in-wonderland-disney-lady-gaga-GoRa9C6DkjKBa
Remember if you want to make an interrogative sentence in simple future, it is necessary to invert the modal verb Will before the pronouns and add the question mark to the end of the sentence. With this kind of questions, you will use a short answer yes or no, add the pronoun and don’t forget to answer with the same auxiliary of the question.
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leave |
next month? |
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However, if you are going to use a Wh question, it has to be before the modal verb will, and you have to use a complete answer according to the required information.
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leave |
next month ? |
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For example:
• Will Mark be in New Zealand for Christmas? Yes, he will. / No, he won’t.
• What will you do next holiday? I will visit my parents in Spain.
Gif drole. (n.d.). Vacances d été clipart. Retrieved from: http://gifdrole.com/vacances/page151.html#.WVvVm4Q1_X4
You can use will to make predictions in many situations…
For example:
• It will rain tomorrow.
• Clinton will not be the next President.
You can use will to talk about a spontaneous decision at the moment of speaking when asking a favour.
For example:
• Juice or soda? Iwill have soda, please.
A: I have a headache.
B: I will give you a painkiller.
You can use will to express promises.
For example:
• I promise I will not ever do it again.
• She will be there for your birthday.
It will be a snowy afternoon.
Activity 1
For Christmas, I will be…
You can find the simple future (will) in many texts you read with its diverse uses and forms. Now you are going to read about next Christmas in different places around the world. Which place will the characters visit? Read and select the best option.
As you could see, all the questions and ideas were made using simple future (will) to refer to plans (primarily spontaneous decisions) let's continue with our main topic.
One of the uses of the simple future is making promises. In this activity, you are going to listen to a phone conversation between Janis and her mother. Then answer the questions.
PublicDomainPictures. (2009). cellphone. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/en/call-calling-cell-cellphone-15758/
Decide if the following statements are true or false by choosing the appropriate option. You will have just one opportunity, at the end of the exercise you can know your score.
How will the world be in 2045? Remember, you can use the simple future to make predictions in any situation. Now you have to review information on the web about the year 2045 to know what will happen in the world. Which will the changes be in our environment and what about the technology, will it be so different?
Taking as a reference your information write a text (between 150 - 180 words) explaining:
Rodriguez, J. (2017). Futurist city. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/en/photo-manipulation-alien-foreign-1825450/
How will the world be in 2045?
Before writing, make sure it has the characteristics contained in the checklist so you can evaluate yourself. Then compare your predictions to this example.
How will the world be in 2045?
In 2045, the world will be different from now. First of all, people will live in buildings that will have everything, so they will never need to leave their homes. Many diseases like the flu, diabetes or fat will be eradicated. However, the population will be reduced by more than 50%. There will be significant advances in medicine. Students will study from home.
Some countries will have disappeared due to “natural” disasters. Hence, there will be no more developing countries. Some powerful countries will change their borders. Humans will live forever as computerised brains. Furthermore, there will be more robots in our lives. We will start socialising with them since they will have the capacity to express emotions and feelings.
Cars will be safer because their motion will be automatic without any drivers. Their technology and design will be futuristic, and there will be a decrease in the number of car accidents. There will be fewer wars because it will be expensive to kill people. As for the internet, all the globe will have internet access. People will use fewer cell phones because they will have access through contact lenses and brain activity.
You can verify your text using the following website to check the mistakes that you made: www.languagetool.org Consider the following chart:
Simple Future is a tense to express plans that can be done or not. Now it is your turn to make a vital invitation to travel to an unusual and strange place: Mars.
(2014). NASA planifica enviar plantas para ser cultivadas en Marte. Retrieved from: http://www.eldiario.net/noticias/2014/2014_05/nt140518/internacional.php?n=79
You will do a recording to sell a tour to Mars. You have to use the vocabulary of this section, the weather and the simple future (spontaneous decision, predictions and promises). Don’t forget that you have to convince people to travel to that place.
Your recording should last at least between 3 to 5 minutes, so get ready and make your draft.
Before doing the task, make sure it has the characteristics contained in the rubric so you can evaluate yourself. Check the example as a reference.
It is common to use the simple future to make predictions about the weather, for this reason, you are going to do a review about it.
Ready to start?...
Drag the different images to the appropriate spaces. You have unlimited attempts to answer the exercise. You can know your score at the end of the exercise.
According to the simple future use and its structure, use as many words as possible from the following word cloud.
Ballesteros, A. (2017)
Your piece of writing should be about your future plans in 2030, include ideas about your:
Write at least 5 sentences for each form of simple future (5 affirmative, 5 negative and 5 questions with answers)
For example:
I will be with my husband and children in Paris in 2030.
I will finish my Architecture major in the following years.
I will have a huge house near the beach in the future.
Etc.
Here are some tips that you can check along with the rubric. Make a self-evaluation for this final exercise.
Basic references
Complementary references
