Narrations & Descriptions

When we talk about narrations in terms of grammar and language, there are two very important vocabulary words: tense and aspect. These two concepts give us different, but essential, information about the story we are listening to.

Tense

tells us WHEN in time a verb occurred. Think of this as a timeline.

Aspect

adds information by telling us HOW that verb occurred in that time. Was it continuous? Or was the action in one particular moment?

Simple Future with Will

Simple future can be expressed the word will and the base form of the verb. It can be contracted as 'll. As we discuss in the lesson Narrate & Describe: Simple Present and Narrate & Describe: Simple Past, the simple form is most often used to talk about facts, habits, routines. Since the future can be imagined, but is not fully knowable, we have different forms of the future to describe a future event as a whole.

Simple future is used in situations where the future events are not expected to change or develop. They are as close to a factual statement (or strong prediction) as we can foresee. If you look at the examples of uses below, you can see that the speaker would use this form to express a degree of certainty.

An action to take place at some definite future time.

Joel will take the bar exam next month.

I'll go home after I send this email.

A future habitual action or state

After October, Marianne will take the 7:30 train every day.

The garbage will be collected on Thursdays next year.

A situation that will continue in the future but has an end in sight

Nora will live in Caracas until she improves her Spanish.

They will study at the university for a few more years.

In the independent clause for future conditionals

If you go, you'll be sorry.

If he gets the job, he will move to New York.

Future prediction

Andy will be 40 next year.

I think that next week will be busy.

Spontaneous decisions

I'll get the phone!

She'll read the next slide.

Simple Future with Be Going To

Another form of expressing the simple present is with be going to, which is often reduced to gonna in spoken English. The two main forms of simple present, will and be going to, can be used in many of the same instances. For example, they can both be used to make predictions. However, they cannot always be used interchangeably. For example, be going to is the form used to express a prior plan, but will would express a spontaneous decision.

Future prediction

You're gonna do well on the test next week.

Belinda is going to love that present.

Future intentions (decided previously)

Randy and Joyce are going to get married in June.

I am gonna visit Italy next summer.

Future certainty based on present condition or evidence

Paula is going to have a baby.

It's going to rain today.

Exercise 1: Listen for future

Here is a video about budgeting which uses some examples of will and be going to.

Transcript Marked

I'll never again struggle with money.

(0:57) Right now I'm going to share with you the first step:

The stricter you are, the sooner you'll be free.

You'll have some slip-ups along the way.

planning for emergencies because they will happen.

Speaking Practice

• How do you budget your money? How is your system similar or different to the speaker's plan?
• The speaker describes 3 categories for expenses: essentials, non-essentials, and junk. Describe what you think would be in each category. Narrate examples of how you have spent money in those three different categories.

Simple Future using Simple Present

In addition to the use of will and be going to, you can express simple future using simple present. The simple present sounds like a general fact, which makes it more formal and impersonal. Because of that, it is most commonly used to describe travel plans or fixed timetables (such as a train schedule).

Future scheduled events or plans

The plane arrives at 10:30am.

We get paid on Friday.

Dependent clause of time or condition

If the train arrives on time, we'll beat the rush hour traffic.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Simple Future with Present Progressive

Like the simple present, present progressive can be used to talk about scheduled plans. It is more commonly used because it is less formal than the simple present. It is sometimes used in the same way as be going to, the main difference is that it is an existing plan rather than an intended plan. For example, if I am just imagining my plan to visit another country, I could use I am going to visit the Louvre. However, if I have already bought tickets, I could use I'm visiting the Louvre to express that future plan.

Future plans (existing)

I'm marching in the parade next week.

Are you watching the parade in person or on tv?

They're presenting their idea in the meeting on Friday.

The company is expanding to Asia next quarter.

The weather report said that it's raining all week.

Exercise 2: Listen for future forms

Watch the video below. As you watch the video, listen for the different ways of expressing future events. Remember that not all forms may be used in one conversation.

Practice

Ways to express future times	Sentences
Will	e.g. Daegu and Gyeongju will be colder at 2 and degrees respectively.
Be going to
Present simple
Present progressive

Answer Key

Ways to express future times	Sentences
Will	will be colder will most likely amount will see warmer will drop further will intensify I'll leave you
Be going to	is going to be lower
Present simple	is in the forecast may even see can expect
Present progressive	are expecting