Philo & Sophia · Lesson FourFuture forms: will, going to, present tenses, future continuous and perfect; be bound / likely to; be about to, on the verge of · B1–C1

A Wager

In which Marcos bets against the harbour, loses before he knows it, and Sophia counts out six different ways of meaning "later."

The bet was Marcos's idea, as most bad ideas around the library tend to be. He had spotted a merchant ship far out past the breakwater and decided, on the spot, that it settled something.

"I'll bet you the shipment reaches the third dock before noon," he said, to nobody in particular, which is how Marcos issues most of his challenges.

Demetria, who had actually been watching the harbour rather than merely gesturing at it, didn't even look up from her copying. "It isn't going to arrive before noon. Look at it — it's barely past the lighthouse, and the wind's against it."

Chosen, or already visible

"Will" marks a decision made on the spot — "going to" marks a prediction already showing itself

Sophia, who had been listening from the next table with the particular patience of someone about to make two people feel very small in a friendly way, set down her pen. "Notice what you each just did, before either of you gets attached to being right."

"Marcos decided on the spot — that's what 'will' marks, in a sentence like his: a choice made in the moment, with nothing behind it but his own impulse. Demetria did something else entirely. She read the evidence already in front of her — the ship, the wind, the distance — and 'going to' is what marks that: a prediction that's already showing itself, before you ever open your mouth."

"One future is chosen," said Philo, turning it into a line worth remembering, as he tends to. "The other is already visible."

Fixed, and scheduled

Present continuous names an arrangement already settled — present simple names a repeating schedule

The young clerk, drawn over by the prospect of a wager the way clerks are always drawn to anything that isn't shelving, added his own report without being asked. "The ship is unloading at the third dock this afternoon — I saw the manifest myself."

"The harbour gates close at sunset," the old scholar added, from his desk, without even glancing up, "as they always do."

"Two more futures," said Sophia, "and neither one is a guess. The clerk names an arrangement already fixed — someone has already decided it and written it down. That's present continuous. The scholar names a schedule that simply repeats, day after day, whether or not anyone decided it today. That's present simple."

"Four futures already," said Demetria, counting on her fingers with some satisfaction, "and not one of them means the same kind of certain."

Where the future hides

After when, before, after, until, as soon as, once — the future clause borrows the present tense

"As soon as the ship arrives," the clerk said, already reaching for his ledger, "I'll enter it in the record."

"Not 'as soon as it will arrive'?" said Marcos, hopeful of catching an error in someone else's sentence for once.

"No," said Sophia, "and this is the part most people never notice they're doing correctly. After 'when,' 'before,' 'after,' 'until,' 'as soon as,' 'once' — the future hides. You use the present tense inside that clause, and let 'will' stand alone in the sentence it actually belongs to."

"The clause behaves as if it were already true," said Philo. "Only the rest of the sentence admits, honestly, that it hasn't happened yet."

A future perfect: joined to a point still ahead

"Will have" ties a finished action to a point that hasn't arrived yet

"By the time the gates close," the old scholar announced, with the confidence of a man who plans his afternoons in advance, "I will have catalogued the whole shipment."

"A fifth future," said Sophia, "and it's the perfect aspect again, reaching forward this time instead of back. You met this rope in the last lesson, tying one action to another point — 'have swept,' 'had swept.' 'Will have' does the identical joining, except the anchor point now sits somewhere still ahead of us, not behind."

Noon came and went. The ship, true to Demetria's reading of the wind, did not arrive.

"By sunset," Sophia observed, not unkindly, "the shipment still hadn't come."

"Then I've merely lost early," said Marcos, with the dignity of a man rearranging the facts around his own defeat.

A future in motion

"Will be + -ing" catches an action in the middle of happening, at a moment that hasn't arrived yet

Marcos, who had not yet accepted his defeat, tried a different line. "This time tomorrow," he said grandly, "I'll be sitting on the quay, watching that ship come in, and collecting my winnings."

"Listen to what he just did," said Sophia. "He didn't say he will sit, as a decision, or that he will have sat, as something finished. He put himself in the middle of an action, at a moment still ahead: 'this time tomorrow, I'll be sitting.' That is the future continuous: will be plus the -ing form. It does for tomorrow exactly what the present continuous does for now: it catches the action half-way through."

"It has two other uses," she went on. "It describes things that will happen anyway, as a matter of course, with no decision behind them: 'The ship will be stopping at Rhodes on its way.' And it makes questions about other people's plans very polite, because you are asking about the plan, not pushing for a favour. 'Will you be using the lamp tonight, Philo?' is far gentler than 'Will you lend me the lamp?'"

"I will not be lending Marcos my lamp," said Philo, "tonight or any night."

Bound, likely and certain

How sure are you? Phrases that measure the odds of a future event

Demetria put down her pen. "If we are going to wager," she said, "we should at least speak precisely. 'Going to' says I have evidence. But how strong is it?"

"Then you need a scale," said Sophia, and wrote it on the wax, from the top down:

• The ship is bound to be late. / It is certain to be late. / It is sure to be late. I am as sure as I can be.
• It is likely to arrive tomorrow. / In all likelihood, it will arrive tomorrow. / There's a good chance it will arrive tomorrow. Probably.
• It may well arrive tomorrow. Quite possibly.
• It is unlikely to arrive before noon. / It's unlikely that it will arrive before noon. Probably not.

"Notice the shape," said Sophia. "Be bound / certain / sure / likely / unlikely + to + the plain verb. The subject is the thing you are judging, the ship, not you. And notice what 'bound to' really means: it's tied, like the rope you met in the last lesson. The ship isn't choosing to be late; it's bound to it."

"Then Marcos is bound to lose," said Demetria.

"Marcos," said Marcos, "is unlikely to bet with you again."

On the very edge

Phrases for a future so near it is almost the present

At that moment the old scholar stood up from his catalogue, rolled his shoulders, and reached for his cloak. "He's about to leave," whispered Marcos. "No, look, he's on the point of saying something."

"Exactly so," said Sophia. "Some futures are so close you can almost touch them, and English has a family of phrases for the very edge of an event:"

• The ship is about to dock. In a moment. (Be about to + plain verb.)
• He is on the point of leaving. Just about to. (On the point of + -ing.)
• The library is on the verge of a great discovery. / She was on the verge of tears. Very close to something, often big or emotional. (On the verge of + noun or -ing.)
• The old warehouse is on the brink of collapse. Close to something dramatic, often dangerous. (On the brink of + noun.)
• The grain ship is due to arrive at noon. Expected, according to a plan or timetable.
• The prefect is set to announce new taxes. Ready and expected, as the news-criers say.
• The emperor is to visit Alexandria in the spring. A formal, official arrangement.

"And they can all look backward, too," Sophia added. "'I was about to leave when you arrived.' 'He was on the point of confessing.' The edge of an event that happened, or didn't, in the past."

The old scholar, who had heard every word, sat down again. "I was on the point of leaving," he said dryly, "but this lesson is far too interesting."

A sixth future, looking backward

"Was going to" reports a prediction that already existed, from a point still further ahead

"You were always going to lose," said Philo, not without sympathy. "The bet was decided the moment Demetria looked at that harbour. You only learned it later."

"A sixth future," said Sophia, "and it's the strangest one, because it only exists looking backward. 'Was going to' reports a prediction that already existed — Demetria's, in this case — from a point still further ahead than the prediction itself. It's a future, reported after the fact, from beyond it."

Philo's footnote

"Hebrew has no dedicated future tense at all," Philo added, unable to let a lesson pass without it. "It reaches for what's ahead the same way it reaches for now — through aspect, complete or incomplete, and leaves the actual moment for the rest of the sentence to supply. English, by scattering six different shapes across a single idea of 'later,' is doing with machinery what Hebrew does with a single, flexible gesture."

"Which is why I'd rather you thought of your future as a set of commitments, not a single tense," said Sophia. "Chosen. Foreseen from evidence. Arranged. Scheduled. Joined to a point still ahead. Or foreseen, and then overtaken by events, the way Marcos's wager was."

"So which future applies," Marcos asked, "to me giving up wagers?"

"The one that never arrives," said Demetria, and did not look up from her copying.

The lesson in a table

For copying out

Written exercises

A. Chosen, or already visible?

For each sentence, say whether it uses "will" (a decision made on the spot) or "going to" (a prediction from visible evidence) — and name the evidence, if there is any.

1. "Look at those clouds — it's going to rain before we reach the harbour."
2. "I don't know the answer — I'll ask Philo."
3. "She's studied every scroll on the shelf; she's going to pass the examination easily."

B. Find the hidden future

Each sentence below contains a time clause (introduced by when, before, after, until, as soon as, or once) where the future is "hidden" behind a present-tense verb. Underline that verb, and underline the "will" verb that carries the actual future meaning for the sentence.

1. "When the gates close, the clerk will still be inside."
2. "I won't start the ledger until the shipment arrives."
3. "As soon as Philo finishes reading, we'll leave for the harbour."

C. Many futures, one event

Pick a single future event (a journey, a meal, an exam, a delivery). Write seven sentences about it, one for each of these forms — will, going to, present continuous, present simple, a time clause, future perfect and future continuous. Then write a seventh sentence, in "was going to," reporting one of those six predictions as though it had already failed to come true.

D. How sure, and how near?

Rewrite each sentence using the words in brackets, keeping the meaning the same.

1. "I'm sure the ship will be late." (bound)
2. "It probably won't rain tomorrow." (unlikely)
3. "She is going to leave in a moment." (about)
4. "The old warehouse will collapse very soon." (brink)
5. "The ship should arrive at noon, according to the timetable." (due)