Microsoft Word Theoretical Course of English Grammar

Some means of expressing future time 
In the absence of an inflectional future tense (that is, verbs cannot be inflected for future 
tense in the same way that they can be inflected for present and past tense), there are several 
ways to express future time in English.
1.
 
The most common way to express future time is by means of modal auxiliaries 
will
/
shall 
+ the bare infinitive: 

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Theoretical Course of English Grammar 
Script by prof. 
Nino Kirvalidze
47
He will be here in half an hour. 
Will you need any help? 
Shall
is not often used in the statements with a 1
st
person subject singular or plural to in-
dicate futurity (
No doubt I shall see you next week
), while questions with a 1
st
person subject 
always require this auxiliary:
Shall we go to the cinema? 
Shall I help you with the work? 
2.
 
The semi-modal to 
be going to 
+ the bare 
infinitive
in the present tense is used to re-
fer to a projected future action which is chiefly associated with personal subjects and agentive 
verbs: 
When are you going to get married? 
Martha is going to lend us her camera.
I’m going to complain if things don’t approve.
When this construction is used in the past tense (
was going to
) it refers to a projected fu-
ture action seen from a point in the past: 
It was in the summer holidays and Mathew was going to start school. 
3.
 
Present progressive is usually used to refer to the projected event that will occur in the 
nearest future: 
The orchestra is playing a Mozart symphony after this. 
I’m taking the children to the zoo next week.
4.
 
The simple present tense is used to refer to a future event which is certain to take 
place according to the schedule: 
The plane leaves for Ankara at eight o’clock tonight. 
The match starts at 2.30 tomorrow. 
5.
 
The simple present tense is used to refer to a future event in conditional and temporal 
adverbial clauses:
He’ll do it if you pay him. 
I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from her.

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Theoretical Course of English Grammar 
Script by prof.