Learn how to make simple future tense statements
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Hi, everybody! Ny name is Alisha, today I'm going to be talking about the simple future tense. Today I'm going to talk about "will" and "won't" and "going to" and not going to. So these are a few grammar points that learners make mistakes with, when should you use will or won't? When should you use going to or not going to? So I'm going to talk about a few of these points, a few basic points, that I hope can help you decide when to use will and when to use "going to." So, let's begin! |
| Okay, the first point I want to talk about is "going to" or "not going to," the positive form and the negative form, going to or "not going to." For today I want to talk about two times when we'll use these grammar points. So the first time, the first situation where you use "going to" or "not going to" is for plans decided before the conversation. So if you make a decision about your future plans, or someone else makes the decision before the conversation about their plans for the future, you should use "going to" or not going to. It's something that is probably going to happen, a high certainty, so this is a plan that has a high level of certainty, meaning there's a good chance this plan is going to happen, you decided it before the conversation, meaning you've probably had some time to plan your future, to plan your schedule a little bit. So, please use going to for something you decide before the conversation. So, on a timeline, it might look like this, we have past, now, and future here. So your plan is for the future, yes, but you decided on the plan some time before the conversation. So if this point, this is now, this is your conversation, you made the plan you made the decision before the conversation; in this case, use "going to" I'm going to. |
| At the beginning of this video, I said I'm going to talk about simple future tense, will and going to. I decided before this video started about my plans, I decided what I was going to talk to you about before the video started, so I used "going to" to introduce that plan, so please keep this in mind. |
| Okay, but let's talk about "will" now. So, we use "will" and "won't" for decisions that are made at the moment of speaking, so keep in mind "will" is the positive form, won't is the negative form here. So a decision made at the moment of speaking, this is one way to use "will" or "won't." You can use this, for example, at restaurants, you can use this to talk about plans you make quickly after learning information from a friend. Keep in mind, "will" and "won't" tends to have a lower certainty, there's a lower chance the plan is going to happen, because you made the plan at the moment of speaking. |
| "Going to" is used for plans made before the conversation, but "will" is used for a plan made spur-of-the-moment, or a very quick plan you've just made. So that's kind of the image, is the decision you just made? Use will or use "won't" in those cases. If you made the decision before the conversation, there's a good chance you should use "going to." So, to go back to our timeline here, if "going to" is used for a decision you made in the past about your future plans, "will" is used for a decision you make in the conversation, during the conversation. The plan can be anytime in the future, but the decision, the point at which you make the decision, is the difference here. |
| One point about this, two points about this, actually, first, "will" - if you've made a decision at the moment of speaking and you therefore should use "will" to communicate that decision, you can improve or you can communicate that there's a high chance it's going to happen with the word "probably." |
| So here, I'll show you this in an example sentence in a moment, but you can use probably with "will" and "won't." I'll probably, I probably won't. Remember that order though, I'll probably or I probably will or probably won't. |
| Point number two, I want to mention about both of these grammar points is to make your pronunciation a little more natural, try shortening both of these expressions, "going to" shortens to "gonna." I'm gonna, I'm not gonna. This sounds much more natural, at least in American English. For "will" and for "won't," when you use "will," use the contracted form with your subject. For example, I will becomes "I'll"; "you will" becomes "you'll"; they will becomes "they'll." Using the contracted form sounds a lot more natural in everyday conversation. It's correct to say "you will," "they will," but it sounds really stiff and unnatural, so please use the contracted form to sound a bit more natural. You can use the contracted form with "probably" for "will." I'll probably, they'll probably, we'll probably. These are all pretty good. |
| Okay, so let's practice using them, alright! |
| First example sentence, Maybe ____ go hiking tomorrow. |
| So how do we know, is this a "will" sentence or a going to sentence? We have a hint here, maybe, so meaning there's a low level of certainty, perhaps a low chance that this is going to happen. So let's say, Maybe I'll go hiking tomorrow. This is probably the best answer. Maybe I'm going to, while you can communicate the idea, yes, it sounds like you decided your plan before the conversation, but you're using "maybe," so it doesn't quite match, instead use I'll, maybe I'll go hiking tomorrow. |
| Okay, let's look at the next sentence, I'm, there's a big hint here, a grammar hint, I'm ____ go to France next year! |
| So next year, this go to France next year, this is a pretty big decision, most people probably would not make this decision at the moment of speaking, so we should use going to. I'm going to go to France next year. This is the correct use of "going to" in this case, a decision made before the moment of speaking, and there's a high level of certainty here. Okay! Let's look at the next one, I decided, here's a hint, past tense "decided" if you watched a different video. oops! |
| I decided that I am _____ go out for dinner. I'm too tired. Okay, so past tense, this shows us a big hint, past tense "decided," this implies the decision was made before the conversation. So, I am _____ go out for dinner. I'm too tired. Here's another hint, so go out for dinner and too tired. This should probably be, I'm not going to go out for dinner. I'm too tired. So this person has decided, I'm not going to go out for dinner, we should use going to, the negative, not going to, because the speaker made the decision before the conversation happen, and there's a high level of certainty, there's a high chance that this is going to happen. So we should use "going to" this sentence. |
| Okay, so the next sentence I included because I think it's a really good one to remember, any time you visit a bar, a restaurant, some kind of service situation you can use this pattern specifically to make a request for something, so let's take a look. |
| Here my example sentence is, I _____ have a glass of wine, please. In this case, maybe it's at a restaurant or in a bar, but in this case, you've just made the decision looking at the menu looking, at a catalogue, looking at something, you made a decision just then at that moment, and you're asking for that item, you're asking for that service, so we'll use "will." I'll have a glass of wine, please. So, in this example sentence, I used glass of wine to show my request, to ask for a glass of wine, but if you want to use this pattern to make a request in a service situation, just replace "glass of wine" with the item or service that you would like. So, for example, I'll have a beer, I'll have a steak, I'll have a hamburger, these are all things you can order at a restaurant or at a bar; if you're shopping you can say I'll have the blue one, please, for example. So just make your request using the same pattern, but replacing that glass of wine section that I used in my example sentence. |
| Okay, next one, this one is maybe a little bit challenging, it's You're running late, so you _____ have to take a taxi to your next meeting. So maybe this is an assistant or someone supporting another person with their schedule. Okay, so in the next sentence we're looking at a situation where there's been a sudden or quick change to a schedule, someone is running late and there's a new decision that's made at the moment of speaking, or a new decision is made to reflect the new situation, so let's take a look. You're running late, so you'll (or you will) have to take a taxi. You could say, you're running late, so you have to take a taxi. But maybe this is a future plan something that's going to happen in an hour from now, maybe this is something the speaker is planning for later in the day, so "you will" is a nice way to use that. You're running late, so you'll have to take a taxi to the next meeting. Okay, the last one, I want to talk about, this uses "probably," which I mentioned over here. So, probably, remember we can use probably to sort of improve or we can use probably to communicate a higher level of certainty with a decision we made at the moment of speaking. |
| So here, you're not going to the party? Then I probably ______ go either. |
| Okay, so "either" is a big hint here, remember we use "either" to show agreement, but negative. Okay, so in the last example sentence for today we're going to look at a situation where the listener has heard some new information, they use the expression you're not going to go to the party? So they're confirming new information they have just heard, after that they're going to make a decision about what their plans are for the party, so let's take a look. We know that "probably" can be used with "will" and "won't." And we know from then, the speaker just made this decision, and we know it's a negative with "either." So, we should use "won't." You're not going to the party? Then I probably won't go either. So the speaker uses "won't" here to show a decision made at the moment of speaking, but the speaker also uses "probably won't" to show there's a high chance that this is going to happen, there's a high chance that this is the future plan, probably won't. Okay, so there's a lot of information communicated there with small words like "then" and "either" and probably as well. So please keep this in mind when you're trying to decide when to use "will," "won't," "going to," and "not going to." |
| Okay, so that's my recap of a few useful grammar points, how to talk about your future tense plans, so I'm going to finish the lesson now. I hope that you enjoyed this lesson, if you have any questions please feel free to leave it in a comment, or if you want to try out a few practice sentences please feel free to leave those in the comment section, too. If you haven't already, please be sure to like this video and subscribe to our channel, too. If you want to find more stuff like this, more lessons, more information like this, you can check out EnglishClass101.com. Thanks very much for watching this episode, and I will see you again soon Bye bye! |
Comments
Hide