Tonight’s singer is very sure of herself. In the old days, people said a girl should wait for the man to make the first move. Not her. She says: before this night is over, I will have done it all, and you will be mine.
Learn from Songs · Unit 4: The future · B1–B2
You Will Be Mine
Faith Hill’s confident country love song: the future perfect (by the end of tonight, I will have…), will for determination, by + time, and the language of making the first move, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
DEMETRIA
Good for her!
SOPHIA
And listen to the grammar: I will have held you, I will have… That is the future perfect, for things that will be finished by a time in the future.
MARCOS
By the end of this lesson, I will have understood it. Probably.
Before you listen: the song
Nashville, 1995
Faith Hill grew up in a small town in Mississippi and moved to Nashville at nineteen, where she sold T-shirts and worked as a secretary while trying to become a singer. Her first album came out in 1993, and later she became one of the biggest stars in country and pop music, with songs such as “This Kiss”, “Breathe” and “There You’ll Be”.
“You Will Be Mine” is on her second album, It Matters to Me (1995), a confident country-pop record. The song plays with an old rule: that a woman should wait for a man to choose her. The singer decides to break the rule and choose for herself.
In the song, she is determined. By the end of the night she will have told him how she feels, and he will be hers.
Sometimes you have to make the first move.
Listen: the plan
PHILO
Listen once. What will she have done by the end of the night? What old rule does she break?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A.
🌟 Listen to the song: “You Will Be Mine” (1995), sung by Faith Hill.Listen to the recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “You Will Be Mine”, Faith Hill.Read the lyrics →
The future perfect
MARCOS
By tonight, I will have finished. By the end of the night, she will have told him. By June, we will have left school.
SOPHIA
will have + past participle = finished before a time in the future. Look for by: By ten o’clock, I will have eaten. Negative: I won’t have finished by then.
By + time
DEMETRIA
by tonight, by Friday, by the end of the year, by the time you arrive.
SOPHIA
by = not later than. by the time + present simple: By the time you arrive, I’ll have cooked dinner. Compare until = up to then: I’ll wait until you arrive.
Will for determination
PHILO
You will be mine. I will win. I won’t give up.
SOPHIA
will / won’t, stressed, show strong determination: I WILL finish this book! The singer isn’t predicting: she is deciding.
Sophia’s comparison: Ruth at the threshing floor
PHILO
Naomi told Ruth: go down to the threshing floor tonight, and when Boaz lies down, uncover his feet and lie there. Ruth did, and when he woke, she asked him to marry her. A woman who made the first move, and the great-grandmother of King David.
SOPHIA
And Atalanta, the fastest runner in Greece, said she would marry only the man who could beat her in a race. She chose the rules herself.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| will have + past participle | future perfect: finished by then | By tonight, I will have told him. |
| won’t have + past participle | not finished by then | I won’t have finished by six. |
| by + time / by the time + present | not later than | By the time you arrive… |
| until | up to that time | I’ll wait until you come. |
| will / won’t (stressed) | determination | I will win! |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. How does the singer feel?
2. What old rule does she break?
3. What tense does the chorus use?
4. Which album is it on?
5. Where did Faith Hill grow up?
6. What jobs did she do in Nashville at first?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. By tonight, I will told him. (have)
8. By June, we will have school. (leave)
9. I’ll have finished six o’clock. (not later than)
10. I’ll wait you arrive. (up to then)
11. By the time you , I’ll have cooked dinner. (arrive)
12. I won’t have by then. (finish)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “By tomorrow I will finish it.” (= it will be complete)
14. “By the time you arrive, we’ll have eaten.”
15. “I’ll wait by you come.”
16. “She won’t have finished by Friday.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
My future. Tell a partner five things you will have done by the end of this year, and three things you won’t have done yet.
Discuss. 1. Should anyone wait for someone else to make the first move? 2. Is it good to be very determined, or can it go too far? 3. What will you have achieved in ten years?
Write (100–120 words). By the end of the year… Write about your goals, using the future perfect, by and by the time, and one sentence of strong determination with will.
Now play the gamebook: Demetria’s race, and the finishing line.Play the gamebook →