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Notes and Answers 29
Chapter 4: FUTURE TIME
ORDER OF CHAPTER CHARTS EXERCISES WORKBOOK
Simple future 4-1 Ex. 1
Will vs. be going to 4-2 Ex. 2 Pr. 1
Expressing the future in time clauses 4-3 Ex. 3 5 Pr. 2
Using the present progressive and the simple present to express future time 4-4 Ex. 6 9 Pr. 3
Future progressive 4-5 Ex. 10 Pr. 4
Future perfect 4-
Future perfect progressive 4-
Review of perfect and progressive tenses Ex. 11 Pr. 5
Review of future time Ex. 12 13
General Notes on Chapter 4
• OBJECTIVE: The chapter emphasizes the common verb forms used to express future
time (including present tenses) and briefly touches on the less frequently used future perfect, simple and progressive.
• TERMINOLOGY: Some grammarians maintain that English has only two tenses, past
and non-past, which are indicated by having one-word verb forms for them (e.g., went for past and go(es) for non-past) and does not have a future tense because there is no one-word verb form with a future meaning. However, this text uses traditional terminology by calling will + simple form the simple future tense, and for ease of classroom communication calls be going to + simple form the simple future, too. The text defines the simple future as a verb form that expresses an event or situation that will, to the best of the speaker’s knowledge, occur in future time. Using other modals and periphrastic (i.e., phrasal) modals to express future time is covered in Chapters 9 and 10.
30 CHAPTER 4, Future Time
CHART 4-2: WILL vs. BE GOING TO
- Students often want to know the difference between will and be going to even though in their own independent production most students rarely make the mistake of using one where the other is required.
- Define “prior plan” as a “preconceived notion” and explain what that means. Ask the students about their future plans to generate sentences that require be going to and are inappropriate for will. For example: A: What are your plans for this evening? B: I’m going to go to a movie with my friends this evening.
- For comparison, create a situation that requires will by asking for volunteers. For example: A: It’s warm in here. We need to open a window. Are there any volunteers? B: I’ll do it.
(^) EXERCISE 1, p. 51. Simple future. (Chart 4-1)
Contraction of will is natural in conversation; this exercise gives students practice in hearing these forms and trying to produce them themselves. Most of the personal pronoun contractions are pronounced as a single syllable: I’ll /ayl/, you’ll /yul/, he’ll /hiyl/, she’ll /siyl/, we’ll /wiyl/, they’ll /ðeyl/. Other words add a syllable for the contraction: it’ll /təl/, that’ll/, /ð təl/, etc. Items 1–4 show the commonly written contracted forms. In other items, the forms are not usually written but should be spoken in this exercise. ANSWERS: 6. weather’ll 7. Mary’ll 8. Bill’ll 9. children’ll 10. Who’ll [This is sometimes a very informal written form also.] 11. Where’ll 12. long’ll
13. Nobody’ll 14. That’ll 15. What’ll
CHART 4-1: SIMPLE FUTURE: WILL AND BE GOING TO
- This chart merely introduces the two basic forms for expressing the future. It does not show their differences in function or meaning. (See Chart 4-2.)
- Model gonna for the students. Don’t rush them to use it in their speech; remind them that good enunciation is important to second language learners and that normal contracted speaking will occur naturally as they gain experience with the language. Point out that gonna is not used in writing.
- Some learners ask about shall vs. will. Shall is rarely used in American English to express future time. It is found more commonly in British English. It also occurs in some questions seeking agreement, e.g., Shall we go now? (See Chart 9-10.)
EXERCISE 2, p. 52. WILL vs. BE GOING TO. (Chart 4-2)
In the items, which are dialogues between Speaker A and Speaker B, students can work out the answers in pairs, then speak the dialogues in a natural manner (glancing only briefly at their texts). Discuss contracted forms with will.
32 CHAPTER 4, Future Time
(^) EXERCISE 5, p. 57. Expressing the future in time clauses. (Chart 4-3)
Emphasize again the use of the simple present in a future time clause. Tense errors in future time clauses are common among second language learners of English. VERB FORMS IN ANSWERS: 2. [simple present... future] 3. [future... simple present] 4. [future... simple present] 5. [simple present... future]
6. [future... simple present] 7. [simple present... future] 8. [ (someone)... future]
CHART 4-4: USING THE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE AND THE
SIMPLE PRESENT TO EXPRESS FUTURE TIME
- The present progressive, when used to express future time, must relate to a plan or intention.
- The simple present, when used to express future time, is limited to scheduled events.
- These tenses are frequently used to express future time, especially in conversational English. The difficulty for students is to learn the limitations on the use of the tenses to mean future time.
(^) EXERCISE 6, p. 57. Using the present progressive and the simple present to express future
time. (Chart 4-4) See the Introduction, p. xix, for information about discussion-of-meaning exercises. ANSWERS: 4. in the future 5. in the future 6. now 7. in the future
8. habitually 9. in the future 10. in the future 11. habitually 12. A: now B: now A: in the future [ do you want asks about a present plan for a future activity.] 13. A: in the future B: in the future C: in the future 14. in the future 15. in the future 16. in the future 17. in the future 18. in the future
(^) EXERCISE 7, p. 59. Using the present progressive to express future time.
(Chart 4-4) Note that be going to and sometimes will are also possible completions. The purpose of the exercise is to familiarize the learners with common situations in which the present progressive is used to express future time. EXPECTED COMPLETIONS: 2. am taking 3. are having... are coming 4. am seeing 5. is going 6. are driving 7. is playing 8. am stopping
(^) EXERCISE 8, p. 60. Using the present progressive to express future time.
(Chart 4 -4) Students may be comfortable with be going to and produce it naturally. Encourage explicit practice with the use of the present progressive here.
(^) EXERCISE 9, p. 60. Using the present progressive and the simple present to express
future time. (Chart 4-4) Explain what an itinerary is: a plan for a trip that shows the places to be visited, the route, the dates of arrival and departure, and sometimes the means of transportation.
Notes and Answers 33
As preparation for this writing assignment, perhaps photocopy and bring to class an itinerary from a travel agency for a future trip. Have the class describe the trip on that itinerary using present tenses.
CHART 4-5: FUTURE PROGRESSIVE
- Relate the examples to similar sentences with the present progressive and past progressive.
- In the exercises in the text, the future progressive is associated with an activity that will be in progress at a specific moment of future time. However, as in (d), the future progressive is also used to express predicted activities that will be in progress at a vague or nonspecific future time: e.g., I’ll be seeing you! OR I’ll be waiting to hear from you OR Just wait. Before you know it, the baby will be walking and talking.
(^) EXERCISE 10, p. 60. Using the future progressive. (Chart 4-5)
ANSWERS: 1. will be attending 2. arrive... will be waiting 3. get... will be shining... will be singing... will still be lying 4. B: will be lying [Call attention to the spelling of lying. ] A: will be thinking 5. will be staying 6. will be doing... will be attending school... (will be) studying [Point out the ellipsis (i.e., omission of the subject and auxiliary verb) in parallel structure.] 7. is... will probably be raining 8. will be in Chicago visiting 9. will be at the library working 10. will be living... will be driving
CHARTS 4-6 AND 4-7: FUTURE PERFECT AND FUTURE PERFECT
PROGRESSIVE
- These are the two most infrequently used tenses in English. There’s no need to belabor them.
- Relate these tenses to perfect simples and perfect progressives in the present and the past. Refer again to Chart 1-5 to show how these two tenses fit into a larger pattern.
(^) EXERCISE 11, p. 62. Perfect and perfect progressive tenses.
(Chapter 3; Charts 4-6 and 4-7) This exercise includes past, present, and future perfect and progressive tenses. The text seeks to promote an understanding of the future perfect and future perfect progressive by comparing them to other tenses with which the students are more familiar. ANSWERS: 1. have been... had been... will have been 2. get... will already have arrived / will have already arrived 3. got... had already arrived 4. have been sitting... had been sitting... will have been sitting 5. will have been driving [also possible: will have driven ] 6. had been living / had lived... will have been living / will have lived 7. get... will have taken 8. will have been running 9. will have had... dies 10. will have been
