THE INCLUSIVE PRESENT Past Activities within a Period extending to and including the
10. Harry will be doing his military service next year
§ 47 e. The last four examples in subsection d also illustrate the use of the Future Progressive Tense to indicate a future activity that is part of a plan or arrangement. Plans and arrangements are dealt with in § 113 and only a summary is given here.
When a future event is part of a settled programme, the Simple Present Tense may be used.
J leave for Dublin tomorrow.
Professor Black retires next year.
We dine with the Whites on Tuesday.
The last example suggests a standing arrangement. (We always dine with the Whites on Tuesdays.) It may, however, be used with reference to a single occasion.
For single events that form part of a programme or that have been planned for the future, the Present Progressive is more usual.
We've going to Dublin next week.
I’m taking the children to the Zoo on Sunday.
What are you doing tomorrow?
Where ave you spending your next summer holidays?
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The Future Progressive Tense is also used for future events
that are planned. .
We shall be going to Dublin next week.
See § 113 aand b for fuller notes on the use of these two tenses.
§47f. The use of the finites of be and a to-infinitive indicates something planned for the future, either by the persons concerned or by others. See § 113 d and § 36 e, Table No, 68, for notes and examples,
§ 47 8. When intention is added to the idea of futurity, going to is usually preferred to will-shail.
{ I shall work harder next term.
“\D'm going to work harder next term,
The first sentence makes a statement about the future; the second adds to this the idea of intention. See § 112 b for an account of this construction and numerous examples.
The construction going to is also used to indicate what seems to be likely or probable in future. The Meteorological Bureau may issue a weather forecast and state:
There will be rain over southern England during the night.
A person who is not a weather expert would probably say:
It’s going to rain soon. Look at those black clouds.
For the use of going to to indicate likelihood and probability, see § 116 e and f. For the use of will-would for this purpose, see
§ 116g.
§ 47h. Promises, threats, and refusals are usually concerned with future time. The use of will and shall to indicate these is dealt with in § rro c and e,
§ 47%. Will and shall are also used to indicate willingness and determination. See § 122. They are also used to indicate and ask about wishes. See § 111 h. For their use in commands, requests, invitations, and suggestions, see § 109 d, h, k, 1.
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§47j. A future activity or state can be indicated by the use of the adjectives sure and certain with a to-infinitive.
He’s sure to be there. (== He will certainly be there.) They’ve certain to need help. (== They will certainly need help.) It’s sure to rain. (== It will certainly rain.)
§47 k. Future time is also indicated by the use of to come after a noun that stands for a period of time: iz the years to come (== in future years).
§471.-The Present and Present Perfect Tenses may indicate future time in temporal and conditional clauses.
I will pay you when (if) I have the money.
We'll go home when the rain stops.
Pl come as soon as Pve finished writing this letter.
The Past Tense may indicate future time in conditional clauses.
If I had the money (now, or in future), I should pay you what I owe.
The Past Tense also indicates both present and future time in such sentences as:
It’s time we started.
I wish I knew,
THE INCLUSIVE FUTURE
$48 a. To indicate activities that will or are considered likely to extend to and include a point or period of time in the future, the Future Perfect Tense may be used. The Future Tense points to the time of an activity; the Future Perfect Tense puts more emphasis on the completion of the activity and on the consequence of this. To indicate that an activity will be continuous, or that it will still be going on, the Future Perfect Progressive Tense may be used.
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The examples below are not only of the Future Perfect Tenses;
they compare these tenses with others.
Imagine a criminal who was, in 1940, sentenced to imprison- ment for life. Speaking in the year 1950, he might have said:
1, I have now been in prison for ten years.
2. In 1945 I had been in prison for five years.
3. 1m 1070, of I am still alive, I shall have been in prison for thirty years.
Imagine a man who is now setting out on a business tour round the world, a journey that is to take nine or ten months. He could say:
4. In six months from now I shall probably be in India,
5. By this time next year I shall have crossed three oceans and (shall) have seen four or five continents.
Compare the next two examples. No. 6 indicates the time at which an activity will end. No. 7 looks beyond the completion of the activity to what follows the completion of the activity.
6. I shall finish this work before five o'clock.