Integrated Listening & Speaking Skills
  • Review: Aspects 1

    • Review: Aspects 1

    Narrating in the future is an important language function. Not only does a future narration allow you to express plans and goals for the future, but you can begin to make predictions and hypotheses about long-term impacts of actions.

    Objectives

    1. Understand the difference between the three major aspects of the future
    2. Recognize different forms of narrating in the future
    3. Create future narrations

    Simple Future

    Simple future is the most frequently used form for speaking about the future. While you may think of the future in English in terms of will and be going to, the future is expressed in a few different ways. 

    Will

    1. An action to take place at some definite future time.
      • Sasha will travel to Iceland in two months.
      • I'll call you after I finish this meeting.
    2. A future habitual action or state
      • After November, Mariana will take the bus to work every day. 
      • Test will be given on Fridays this semester.
    3. A situation that will continue in the future but has an end in sight
      • Nancy will live in Hamburg until she improves her German.
      • They will work at the company for 10 more years.
    4. In the independent clause for future conditionals
      • If you eat that, you'll get sick.
      • If he passes the test, he will apply to his dream college.
    5. Future prediction
      • It will rain this weekend.
      • I think that next summer will be better.
    6. Spontaneous decisions
      • I'll open the door!
      • She'll read the next page.

    Be Going to

    1. Future prediction
      • You are going to get a good grade on the term paper.
      • Brandon is going to be so surprised!
    2. Future intentions (decided previously)
      • Raphael and Jeanine are going to go to Hawaii in August.
      • I am going to visit the Grand Canyon next summer.
    3. Future certainty based on present condition or evidence
      • Pietro is going to eat his dinner.
      • It's going to rain today.

    Simple Present

    1. Future scheduled events or plans, more formal or impersonal
      • The meeting starts at 11:00am.
      • We present our project on Thursday in class.
    2. Dependent clause of time or condition
      • If the bus arrives late, we'll be late for work.
      • I'll ask her when I see her.

    Present Progressive

    1. Future plans (existing)
      • I'm starting a new job in two weeks.
      • They're playing the championship game this weekend.

    Future Progressive

    Just like the past and present progressive, the future progressive expresses an action that occurs over time.

    Future progressive has three elements: will + be + present participle.

    For example:

    I will be studying all weekend.

    Will you be performing in the performance arts show?

    She'll be talking to the professor this afternoon.

    The future progressive can also be expressed with be going to + be + present participle.

    For example: 

    We're going to be acting in the spring play.

    The boss is going to be evaluating the employees during the month.

    When I visit Australia, I am going to be surfing a much as I can!

    Future Perfect

    The future perfect indicates an action that will be completed at some time in the future. As in other uses of the perfect, the exact time of the action is not as important as the fact that it will occur.

    Future perfect has three parts:

    will 

    +

    have

    (the auxiliary) + 

    past participle.

    Examples:

    I will have graduated by the time I see you again.

    When Adrian leaves the hospital, he will have stayed there for a week.

    Before the next semester, they will have learned the most important concepts.

    As we discussed before, notice how the perfect is used in combination with other aspects or with a phrase indicating a future time.

    Exercise 1: Listen & Speak

    Here is a video interview where Harvey Young (Dean of the BU College of Fine Arts at the time of filming) talks about the future of art after the COVID-19 pandemic. Listen to how he uses simple future to explain his ideas.

     

    • How did (past) your connection to art change during the pandemic? How will it change in the future?
    • Explain your future plans involving art (in any form) using various aspects of the future.

    Exercise 2: Partner Activity - Create a Museum

    • With your partner, design an art museum of the future. What type of art would you focus on? Are there specific pieces or artists you would include?
    • Prepare a future narration and description using a variety of aspects to describe what your classmates will see and experience at the museum.

    Exercise 3: Predictions

    • You will watch this video as a class. The teacher will pause and ask for an explanation of what you think will happen next.
    • For extra practice, your teacher may ask you to find a video clip to share to do a class game of Epic or Fail.

    This content is provided to you freely by EdTech Books.

    Access it online or download it at https://edtechbooks.org/advanced_mid_listening__speaking/review_aspects.