Hi! What’s new with you? If you’ve been following me on social media, you may have seen that I have a lot of projects up my sleeve right now. One of these projects is aimed at helping you understand native speakers during natural conversation. I’m really excited about this project in particular, not least because I get to introduce you to my lovely dad in the pilot!
Hi! What’s new with you?
If you’ve been following me on social media, you may have seen that I have a lot of projects up my sleeve right now.
One of these projects is aimed at helping you understand native speakers during natural conversation. I’m really excited about this project in particular, not least because I get to introduce you to my lovely dad in the pilot!
I’m really excited about it all and will let you know when to watch out for this new material. I’ll be looking forward to your feedback too, so please get involved when the time comes!
My plans got me thinking about our English tenses (I know, I know, what a geek!) and how we use a variety of them to talk about future plans, depending on context.
For example, English learners are usually firstly introduced to the future simple to talk about upcoming events: will + base form of verb. However, it’s important to remember that the future simple is only usually reserved for spontaneous plans, predictions or promises! This tense can get overused.
If you are more certain about plans – so if you have decided firmly, or even agreed them with someone else, opt for present continuous: verb to be +_ing form of verb. If you hear a marketer and financial analyst talking about an important conference at work, the conversation might go like this:
“Are you presenting at this year’s conference?”
“Yes, I’m talking about our new product development. What about you?”
“I’m not presenting, but my manager is. She hasn’t told us about the subject yet, but I imagine she will talk about the economic climate and how it’s affected our results.”
Notice that even the negative statement is also in the present continuous, because the speaker is sure of their plans.
Next, you have the present simple to help you explain some future events. Yes, present simple! We use this to talk about things that typically run to a timetable (even if it is unreliable British transport!). As a rule, if the event would start/the transport would leave with or without you, make it present simple: The meeting starts at 3. The train departs at 18:45. The bus arrives at 2pm. The film starts at 7.
Now onto some of my favourite tenses! The future continuous (will be + _ing form of verb) shows what we imagine will be in process at a given point in the future. We often start such sentences with “this time tomorrow/next week…” So, the next time you are nervous about something and want to explain why, you could use the future continuous. “I’m so scared, as this time tomorrow I will be standing on a stage in front of all my colleagues and presenting our
sales results”.
If you want to talk about something that will be completely finished by a certain, defined point in the future, future perfect (will have + 3rd form of verb) is your friend. First, define the future point (next week, 8pm, my 40th birthday, for example). Then state your goal or assumption. Key prepositions for this tense are “by” and “before”. “By the time I’m 40, I hope I will have learnt English to advanced level”.
Last of all, we have the lesser-used future perfect continuous. There really are limited uses for this tense (will have been + _ing form of verb), which talks about currently ongoing processes that will reach a milestone in the near future. You might hear your older colleagues use it, as they think about their work anniversaries: “Tomorrow/next week/next year I will have been working here for 40 years! Time flies…”
Which tense best suits your future? Let me know or feel free to try out some examples for me to check!
Rebecca, English Club Online
Онлайн репетитор и носитель английского языка
Online Native English Tutor
Remember, my blog is here to help you improve your English actively! Now you’ve read the text, here are some phrases and constructions from the article, which you might be wondering about…
“up my sleeve right now.” = see my Facebook post about this idiom. It’s something secret that I plan to use in the future, like a magician who hides things up their sleeve for a later trick! Come and tell me what’s up your sleeve!
“I get to introduce you to my lovely dad in the pilot!” “I get to” = “I have the opportunity to”
“opt for” – choose
Also, note the sentence: “I’ll be looking forward to your feedback too” => it’s a process that will happen at a defined point in the future (i.e. when I launch the material), so I use future continuous
