10 Smart Ways to Talk about the Future

- Hi! So listen, in IELTS Speaking

you will need to talk about the future, right?

Maybe future plans, maybe predictions

or even speculations and guesswork.

So today I'm going to show you all together

10 ways to express the future.

This is gonna blow your mind

and it will blow the examiner's mind too.

Are you ready?

Let's do it.

(upbeat music)

Hm oh hello there.

I didn't see you there.

Just a moment, right?

Just just one moment.

I'm about to book a train ticket online.

Okay, you see next week

I'm going to visit my friend in London.

Yeah I'm catching the train because I love watching

the countryside pass as I travel.

So listen, the train leaves on Tuesday at 10:00 AM.

Oh, oh so I'll need to get up really early.

Actually I think I'll change it.

That's far too early.

Right okay, good.

So I should get to London by 10:00 AM Wednesday morning.

Great I'm spending three days there.

Wow so good.

And then actually I might jump on a train to Manchester

and go and visit the family.

And actually I could squeeze in a visit to Nottingham

and go and visit my friend there.

Hm that's a nice idea.

Yeah if there's enough time, I'll do that too.

So I'm just looking now at the weather forecast

oh it'll be raining when I get to London.

So I better take my rain coat and my umbrella

maybe my English flat cap.

What'd you think?

(laughs)

Great so just thinking ahead as well

by the end of the week,

I will have traveled

I will have done a lot of traveling actually.

So I think I better have a day's rest

before going back to work.

Great, good sorted.

Right so that was me talking about some things

going to happen in the future, right?

All about the future.

And if you're wondering, by the way, who is me?

Who are you?

My name is Keith.

If you don't know, I run the Keith Speaking Academy

the website, YouTube channel English Speaking Success.

And also you should come and join us on my Facebook group.

It's the Keith IELTS Mastermind Community

for IELTS Speaking

just focusing on IELTS Speaking, lots of activity,

lots of exciting stuff there.

Come and join us.

The links are all down below.

Now let's get back to my future plans.

So let's have a look now

at some of the language I was using

to talk about the future.

Hello there.

I didn't see you there just a moment, right?

Just just one moment.

I'm about to book a train ticket online.

Okay you see

next week I'm going to visit my friend in London.

First of all was about to.

I'm about to book, right?

So about to

we use to describe an action in the immediate future.

Now that's relative.

Immediate can be seconds, minutes or hours.

In this case, I'm about to book a train ticket.

It was in the next few seconds.

I'm about to catch a flight,

could be in an hour or two

but there's a sense of immediacy.

That's the key thing.

We often use it with just,

I'm just about to, and it's great

because we can use it when you don't want to do things.

Like for example, when your partner is asking you

can you help me with this?

Oh, I'm sorry

I'm just about to go out.

Great for escaping the tasks other people want you to do.

Okay that's about to.

Moving on, I'm going to.

Next week I'm going to visit my friend.

So when do we use going to?

With future plans.

So when something is planned in this case,

I had a plan I'd been in touch with my friend.

We'd made a plan to visit or to meet up.

So I'm going to visit my friend.

Some of the organization has already been done.

Also it, even if it's not a plan, it can be an intention.

I'm going to visit my friend next week

come rain or shine.

I don't care what happens.

It's my intention.

So we can use going to, with a plan or an intention.

Let's move on.

Yeah I'm catching the train

because I love watching the countryside pass as I travel.

So listen, the train leaves on Tuesday at 10:00 AM.

Oh, oh.

So I'll need to get up really early.

Actually I think I'll change it.

That's far too early.

Next we've got, I'm catching the train because.

I'm catching the train.

Now that is the present continuous.

But it's not now, obviously I'm not inside a train.

Am I?

So this is used for future arrangements.

Things that have been arranged or you're arranging now.

So I'm catching the train that

'cause I've just booked the ticket.

So that's been arranged.

I'm catching the train next week.

I'm visiting the doctor tomorrow.

I'm visiting the dentist tomorrow.

It's been scheduled.

It's been arranged already.

We use the present continuous

for these kinds of arrangements or appointments.

And then I told you that the train leaves

on Tuesday at 10 o'clock in the morning.

Why did I use the present simple?

Because when we're talking about schedules or timetables

in the future, we use the present simple.

The train leaves at 10 o'clock is not.

It is every day, but it's referring

to a specific timetable in the future.

Very simple.

And now we come on to probably the most common use

of the future form is will.

So when do we use will?

We use will, first of all

with predictions, when you predict something will happen.

So I looked at the train timetable and I said,

oh I will need to get up early.

I'm predicting, according to the timetable,

I will need to get up early.

Notice, of course with will we make a contraction I'll, I'll

it's got that lovely dark L, I'll, I'll

The tip of your tongue needs to touch your teeth

at the front

and your tongue kind of comes into that shape.

I'll I'll, I'll need to get up early right, nice.

So that is a prediction.

Interestingly so we use this a lot

in IELTS Speaking part three.

Very often you get the question

how will, change in the future?

Well, I think this will, and that will, and we will, right?

You're predicting the future.

For example, how will the way we work change in the future?

I think we will work from home a lot more.

I think we will probably use video conferencing a lot more.

So that kind of prediction great.

And that's where you should be using will

or where you can use will.

Now another very common use of will

is when you decide something right now.

(door bell chimes)

Yeah okay I'll get to it.

You hear the bell and you decide I'll get it.

Not I get it, I'll get it because it is a future,

but I've decided now.

And so when I was looking at the train timetable,

I thought, right, that train is early

and in that moment I decided I'll change it.

I will change it.

I'll change it.

So when we decide something right now,

we can use will as well.

Aha clever.

Let's move on.

Right okay, good.

So I should get to London by 10 at 10:00 AM

Wednesday morning.

Great I'm spending three days there.

Wow so good.

And then actually I might jump on a train to Manchester

and go and visit the family.

And actually I could squeeze in a visit to Nottingham

and go and visit my friend there.

Hmm that's a nice idea yeah.

If there's enough time, I'll do that too.

Right and next now let's have a look.

Oh, this is all about the modals or I love modal verbs.

Don't you?

Okay, first of all, should.

So we can use should for a situation that is likely

or expected in the future.

Something expected.

I should get to London by 10 o'clock.

I expect to get there in the future.

Now you're probably familiar with should as advice.

Oh, you should go tomorrow.

That's advice.

This is different.

This is an expected future.

I should arrive by 10 o'clock.

We can also use might may and could,

for possible future activities or events.

I might jump on a train to Manchester.

It's a possible future activity.

I'm not sure now but I might do that

or I could squeeze in a visit.

Squeeze is to when you've got limited time,

but you want to do something

you can squeeze in a visit a bit like fit, fit in a visit.

I could squeeze in a visit to my friend.

It's a possible future action again.

So all of these modals here can be used for the future.

Notice I said also again, present continuous.

I'm spending three days there.

Why did I use the present continuous?

Have I arranged to spend three days there?

Yes I have.

I've got an arrangement

so therefore I can use the present continuous.

Again I'm spending three days there.

Nice, finally, I move on to this first conditional.

Now, this is interesting

'cause this is where so many people slip up.

It's one of the most common grammar mistakes that we see

in IELTS Speaking.

And you wanna check out that video.

There's a video up there

or up there all about the top five grammar mistakes.

But this one right, is very, very common.

If there's enough time, I will do that.

If there is enough time in the future.

So instead of saying, if there will be enough time

which is the logical thing, we are totally not logical

in English ever or in England for that matter.

If there is enough time, it's the if plus the present

and then the next clause is will plus the verb.

The most common mistake is, oh

if there will be enough time, I will do that.

Ah-ah don't say that.

If there is enough time, I will do that.

If there's enough time contraction, right?

If there's enough time, I'll do it.

Try and say that.

Good, notice the intonation di di di di di di

if there's enough time, I'll do that.

Hunky Dory very nice.

So this first conditional is used

for things that we feel are likely to happen in the future.

Clearly here, I'm gonna visit my friends.

I think it's likely that there will be enough time.

So if there's enough time, I will do that.

Great let's move on.

So I'm just looking now at the weather forecast

oh it'll be raining when I get to London.

Yeah so I better take my rain coat and my umbrella.

Just looking at the weather forecast,

it's going to rain.

Right, surprise.

It will be raining when I get to London.

This is the future continuous.

Again a very common use of a tense for the future.

It will be raining.

So will plus be plus the verb in, ING.

It will be raining.

So this is simply to describe an action in progress

but in the future.

Or an expectation about the future.

I think it will be raining this time tomorrow.

Looking at the weather forecast

it will be raining when I get to London.

Not when I will get to London, when I get to London.

Why, because this is similar to the first conditional.

It will be comma, if plus the present

or when plus the present another very common mistake.

So when I get to London with the present,

it will be raining future continuous.

Now we often use the future continuous to project ourselves

into the future

especially when you're looking forward to something.

You're thinking about your holiday next on the beach.

Oh, this time, next week I'll be sitting on the beach.

I'll be drinking champagne.

I'll be swimming in the sea.

Why, because the continuous makes it vivid.

It makes it feel like it's happening now.

And it's a really powerful tense to use

'cause you bring that image

to life for the person you're speaking to.

So it can be a very, very nice tense to use

in conversation to make your conversation

or your activity lively, even though it's in the future

you're almost bringing it

to the present by using the continuous.

So again, thinking about IELTS speaking, part three

that question we saw before, how will blah, blah, blah,

change in the future.

So I take my cap off.

It's not raining.

How will the way we work, change in the future?

Well, I think in the future,

we will be working a lot more from home.

We will be making a lot more video conferences.

Now I don't know if you can hear that

but what's happening is,

you're just making it more vivid and lively

by using the continuous.

You could say, we will work more from home.

We will use video conferences.

But notice there's a difference.

We will be working from home.

I can almost see the people sat at home working.

There's a really different feeling of liveliness.

So it can be a really nice tense to use.

IELTS Speaking part three for the future.

So just thinking ahead as well, by the end of the week

I will have traveled.

I will have done a lot of traveling actually.

So I think I better have a days rest

before going back to work.

Yeah, yeah great, good, sorted.

And the next one here, by the end of the week

I will have done a lot of traveling.

This is the future perfect.

It's with will plus have plus the past participant.

And basically this isn't completed action in the future.

That may be an action that you have begun now

but maybe not begun yet.

But at this point in the future, it will be finished.

I will have done this.

By the end of today,

I will have finished this video.

By Friday this week, I will have edited the video.

These are actions that will be finished

at a point in time in the future.

We often use this tense when we're planning ahead

and thinking about future plans.

So in my example, with the trip I was thinking ahead

about not only the holiday, but starting work

after the holiday.

And by thinking ahead, I realized, ah

I will have done a lot of traveling.

So I need to take a day off before I go back to work.

So when you're planning ahead, this is a nice tense to use.

That's it, there, we have lots of different ways

of talking about the future.

Now you might be thinking, but hang on, Keith

isn't there also the future perfect continuous

I will have been doing?

Well yes.

But it is so strange and complex and confusing even for us

that we very rarely use it.

By the end of next year,

I will have been living here for four years.

It's very strange.

It's correct grammatically of course,

but I wouldn't worry about it.

Just focus on the ones

that we've looked at here today.

You've already got here 10 different ways

of expressing the future.

This will blow the socks off the examiner

because of course IELTS Speaking, you want a wide range

of grammatical structures.

Using different tenses can help you do that,

but do it naturally.

Don't force it.

Do lots of practice,

lots of different questions use it naturally

but be aware it's not just will and going to.

There's a lot more different ways you can talk

about the future.

So I do hope that this has helped you understand more

the future tenses and how to use them.

If you haven't yet check out the grammar series,

there are other videos about grammar,

how to use present tenses and past tenses

and the top five grammar, mistakes really useful

if you're about to take the IELTS Speaking test.

Also just to let you know, if you're preparing for IELTS,

I do have the online course.

IELTS Speaking Success Gets Band 7+.

If you've done that course and if you haven't,

go and do it, go and check it out, the links are below.

But if you have done that course,

you might like the next course

which I'm producing in the very, very near future.

Towards the end of October, it's Fluency for IELTS Speaking

a brand new course, it will be all new to me

and it will really help you with fluency,

intonation and building confidence.

Great, look out for that fluency

for IELTS Speaking coming your way soon.

Great, listen, thank you very much for watching.

If you've liked this video, please do like it of course.

Leave a comment below, subscribe to the channel.

And I look forward to seeing you here again very, very soon.

Take care my friend, goodbye.

(upbeat music)