The Future in English: Modals, Conditionals, Clauses, Tenses, Phrases

Hello to my Indian friends, hello to my Spanish friends, ¿qué tal?

Hello to my French friends, ça va, merci.

Hello everyone and thank you for tuning in today to me, Benjamin, attempting to teach

you some grammar.

What are we doing today?

Well, we are using various grammatical structures to predict the future.

Okay, so useful because if you master this, you're going to be able to give opinions.

What do you think is going to happen?

This could happen, this might happen.

So good to express worries, concerns, yeah, we like people who can think ahead, yeah.

So, let's dive in.

The first way we can talk about predicting the future is by using modals and depending

on which particular modal we use depends on

how likely it is, how much confidence we have

that that particular occurrence will take place.

Now, I'm going to use the example of going to Niagara Falls.

I'm in Canada.

I'm from Britain, I'm English, but I'm in Canada, I'm on holiday.

So, how do we use these?

Well, let's start here.

On Thursday, I might go to Niagara Falls.

I might.

It's a possibility, but I might do something else.

I might go up that really, really tall

tower, or I might go and get a massage, yep.

So there are different options, yep.

If you say might, then this is just one of several options.

On Thursday, I could, I could go to Niagara Falls, yep.

It sounds like, you know, I'm interested in this.

I haven't been totally sold on the idea, but it's definitely in my consciousness.

I may go there.

I may.

I'm, yeah, it's, it's, I would say may is probably a bit more like might.

I might relegate may to down here, actually.

May down there, right.

Should.

I feel like I have to do this, yeah.

I should, yeah.

It's here.

I mean, the falls are there.

It's one of those things like you're, that's in

the guidebook, and you're meant to do sightseeing

when you go on holiday.

I should go to Niagara Falls, yeah.

People will be disappointed in me if I don't do that.

I have a duty to do that and get postcards and send them home.

Now, if we say can't, then we're kind of saying

that it's not likely, 80% chance, not going.

On Thursday, no, no, no, no, no, I can't go to Niagara Falls.

If I go to Niagara Falls on Thursday, I'm going to miss my plane.

I can't, but it's not 100%.

I can't, I can't, I can't do that.

There's still like something in the back of my

brain that goes, "Yeah, but come on, Benjamin.

If you get up early enough, if you get on that train, you can go there."

But it's more, "Come on, don't be stupid.

Don't miss the airplane."

Must, I must go.

I must do it.

I must.

Like I'm almost like persuading myself to do it, but it's not 100%.

I must.

I really, really, really, really, really, really, really must do it.

Like I should do it.

I mean, shouldn't I?

There's still a tiny question.

I will, committed.

There's no question.

I will go.

I will marry you.

There's no question about it, yeah?

I won't.

I won't do that.

No questions asked.

Okay?

So, do you see how different modals express

different certainties of an event taking place?

Good stuff.

By the way, if you feel you're learning something

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Excellent.

Okay, we can also use conditionals.

Now, there are four types of conditionals, and I've made a video on each one, so I'm

not going to go into a huge amount of detail

on what they are, but just to summarize, the

zero conditional is like general truths, things that always happen.

The first condition, conditional, is things that are likely to happen.

Second conditional, unlikely, and third is the language of regret.

I wish I'd done that.

So, we're going to look at using the first

conditional to explore things that might happen

but depend on something else.

Okay?

Remember, this whole lesson is on, like, predicting the future, like, seeing ahead

to the future.

So, what we're doing here is we're thinking about what might happen if something else

happens.

Okay? Thinking ahead to that future.

So, what we do is we have a dependable clause,

so suffix "able", yeah, "can depend", so that's

the section of the sentence that relies on the other half to happen.

What am I talking about?

If I go to Niagara Falls, I will get lots of pictures.

Let's break it down.

So, you've got your "if", you've got your present simple verb, and then the main part

of the clause, you have the "will", okay, future tense.

If it's cold, I will not go outside.

If I go to Niagara Falls, I will get lots of pictures.

Okay?

So, using the first conditional to explore something happening in the future.

We're going to have a look now at the second conditional.

You're about halfway through Benjamin's training in psychic future predictions.

Time now to look at the second conditional.

Remember, this is the conditional to express

unlikely outcomes, formed with "if", "if",

the past simple, and then "would".

For example, if I ate some mushrooms, I would die.

Okay?

If I were you, I'd avoid.

Now, here, as I've noted, we're imagining...

It's an imaginary situation where I'm imagining

to be you, so that is the subjunctive, which

is why we've got "were" here, because "were"...

Because we're using the subjunctive, it's always formed with "were" rather than this

conjugating with the subject "I".

Okay?

So, we can use the second conditional to think

of unlikely things happening in the future.

Okay?

Right.

Next, the future perfect and the future continuous.

Future perfect we'll look at first.

So, the future perfect is something that will end in the future.

By 2027, you will have...

What will you have?

You will have built a garden shed.

Yep, that is my prediction.

Something you will have finished.

Future continuous is something that you'll be continuing to do in the future.

So, by 2024, you will be...

Psychic powers, psychic powers...

You will be digging your vegetables...

Digging for your vegetables every day, so going for a really country existence.

Okay?

So, a future continuous to express something that will continue in the future.

Now, the only other things I'm going to need

to throw your way to become psychic warriors

in your own right are some time phrases.

And then, you're going to be ready to go out

there and give future predictions a la Benjamin.

Okay?

Let's get ready for the time phrases.

So, my psychic students, are we ready to give

the answers to the questions that always come

to us?

Will I get married?

Will I have a house?

Will I have a baby?

Will I achieve my dreams?

Well, these phrases are excellent at expressing

the likelihood of something happening.

Will I get to have a dog?

It is impossible that you will have a dog.

Maybe in the future you will have a cat.

Will I get to go on the holiday of my dreams?

It is unlikely, but not impossible that you will have the holiday of your dreams.

Will I get to go on the Trans-Siberian Railroad?

Looking into the magic ball, maybe, yes, it is possible that you will go on the great

Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Next question, fielding it out, listening to the voices, the spirits.

Will I get to go to deepest, darkest Peru?

You probably will go to deepest, darkest Peru.

You probably will go to deepest, darkest Peru.

Will I have twins?

Twins, yes, yes, the spirit says yes, you are certain to have twins.

In fact, you are going to have your twins in the next month.

Yes, you are about to have twins.

Got it?

Okay, so this being the scale of likelihood.

Now my time phrases.

So, this quite soon, this in a long time.

So, we've got before long, that meaning in just a short amount of time.

Before long you will have grown a beard down to the floor.

In the coming months, you can expect much

prosperity, much wealth in the coming months,

in the months that are coming.

In the near future, you will meet a peculiar and special person.

Hmm, peculiar, special person in the near future, okay?

It's quite vague, we don't know when this future is, but it's near.

In the next few years, you can expect to move house.

Wow, okay, move house in the next few years,

right, that's really, really specific, thanks.

In the next few years, over the next decade, you will have many adventures.

Right, interesting, thanks for that, psychic Bob.

In your lifetime, meaning in your whole lifetime,

you can expect to start many businesses.

All right, wonderful.

Okay, so the scale of time phrases, and this one is quite a flexible one.

We can use it like sometime in the coming week,

sometime in 2024, sometime in the next decade.

So this is your multi-use phrase.

There's been a lot of different grammar presented in this lesson for you guys,

giving your future predictions.

So it's important we consolidate this learning by having a go at the quiz now.

It's going to be a challenging quiz.

Right, thank you for watching.

I appreciate your time.

If you need any more help with your English,

then head over to honeyourenglish.com,

where I provide Skype tuition for your spoken and written English.

I always say "according to my timetable" because sometimes I'm working very hard,

and if I'm teaching, then I'm unable to do it, so it depends on my time availability.

But thank you for watching, and I will see you in the next video.

Bye-bye.