- This is Jack from tofluency.com.
And today we are going to look at a word
which is often overused by English language learners.
And what we're going to do today
is talk about the situations in which, I feel,
too many learners use this term,
I will, she will, he will, I'll, she'll, he'll, etc.
Will is often known as the future simple,
but it's actually a modal verb.
And I think this labeling makes learners overuse this word.
So they think about the future,
and they think, okay, the future simple.
I'm going to use the future simple
But there are two much better alternatives
we're going to discuss in this video.
you're going to have a clear understanding
And I'm going to test your knowledge too.
So we'll have three questions for you later on
to test your knowledge of this subject.
it's okay if you make mistakes in English.
It's okay if you sometimes overuse words.
But this video is really going to help you
And also know that talking about the future
A lot of learners find this hard to do,
and this lesson is going to help you with that.
let's think about an imaginary situation.
Let's say that you are currently in a business meeting
And Atlanta is a fantastic city to visit, by the way.
But let's say you're in a business meeting
and you're meeting some suppliers.
They are trying to sell you their paper
for your paper company in Europe.
And at the end of the meeting, they ask you,
"What are your plans for the rest of your time
You have plans to visit the World of Coke.
You have plans to go shopping.
And you also have tickets to watch
the Atlanta United soccer team.
So with that in mind, think about
I'll just leave this on your screen now,
and just take a few seconds to construct some sentences.
A lot of learners will say things like,
"Tonight I will go to the World of Coke.
"Tomorrow we'll do some shopping.
"And then later on we'll watch the soccer game."
But when talking about your plans for the future,
Be going to, and also, the present continuous.
Now, these two structures can be quite flexible,
but there are some small differences,
and you're going to see those now.
Here are some good example sentences.
Tonight we're going to the World of Coke.
Tonight we're going to the World of Coke.
Tomorrow, we're going to do a bit of shopping.
We're going to do a bit of shopping.
And then later, we're watching the Atlanta United game.
We're watching the Atlanta United game.
We're going to the World of Coke.
Tonight, we're going to the World of Coke.
So we use the present continuous
to talk about future arrangements,
or very specific plans that we have.
We have a time to go to the World of Coke at eight o'clock,
so we're going to the World of Coke at eight.
Tonight, we're going to the World of Coke.
The second sentence uses, be going to.
Tomorrow, we're going to do a bit of shopping.
That's a good collocation to know.
And the be going to, plus infinitive,
is a really good structure to know,
because once you get the first part correct,
I'm going to, I was going to, we're going to,
Now, we use this for things like shopping
Or when we have a plan to do something,
but we don't have a specific arrangement for that yet.
I'm going to head to the gym later.
To head to the gym means to go to the gym.
We're going to spend all day cleaning tomorrow.
We're going to spend all day cleaning tomorrow.
Are you going to do that thing tomorrow?
Are you going to do that thing tomorrow?
And the third example from before,
we're going to the Atlanta United game tomorrow night,
or we're watching the Atlanta United game tomorrow night,
is using the present continuous,
because you have tickets to watch the game.
There is another way as well to talk about future plans
And it's simply to give a statement
Instead of saying, "We're going,"
or, "We're watching the Atlanta United game tomorrow night,"
you can simply say, "Well, we have tickets
"for the Atlanta United game tomorrow night."
Here are other similar examples.
Don't forget that we have that meeting tomorrow.
Don't forget that we have that meeting tomorrow.
I have five classes at university later.
I have five classes at university later.
I've got a course next week that I need to take.
I've got a course next week that I need to take.
So when talking about plans and arrangements for the future,
use be going to, the present continuous,
and also other structures such as have, instead of will.
But the question you're probably asking yourself
and asking me is, "When do we use will?
"When do we use this structure?"
Now, I've made a video on this,
and I'll leave a link to it in the description,
but we're just going to briefly explain this
The first way is when you make a decision
about a future action while speaking
in the moment of having a conversation.
For example, if somebody says,
"Let's have a party tomorrow."
You can say, "Sure, I'll invite people at my work,
You made the decision to invite those people
"Who wants to take on this project?"
You can also use it for future facts too.
For example, "Paul won't be in the office tomorrow.
"Would Wednesday work instead?"
You can also use it as part of the first conditional too.
For example, "If it's really cold tomorrow,
Again, if you want to learn more
about how to use will, then click the link
Okay, now it's time for the quiz.
What I'm going to do is put three sentences on your screen,
in order, and you have to complete the sentence
using either, be going to, the present continuous, or will.
Someone asks you what you are doing later.
You have tickets to the theater.
I, something, to the theater this evening.
I'm going to the theater this evening.
You have tickets, you have arrangements.
We use the present continuous.
I'm going to the theater this evening.
You can say, "I'm going to go to the theater this evening."
And that works, but it's better
to use a present continuous here.
Someone asks you what you are doing later.
I, something, do some housework.
I'm going to do some housework.
And again, we use this for activities such as housework.
If it rains later, we, something, go.
If it rains later, we won't go.
Or, if it rains later, we're not going to go.
and we can use be going to or will
when using the first conditional.
Hopefully that wasn't too difficult,
that little mini quiz, but now I have something
that might be a little bit more challenging for you.
What I want you to do is to leave a comment below,
and just tell me what you're doing tomorrow.
It's quite simple, but think about
the different tenses you can use
and the different structures you can use
to be accurate when answering this question.
So, go into the YouTube comments,
and just type on your phone or on your computer,
and tell me what you are doing tomorrow.
And then subscribe to this channel if you are new.
Turn on the notification bell.
Like the video, and share the video as well.
It's quite a lot of things to do there,
but sharing this video will help me
reach more people, and it's also a good thing to do.
And while you're here, why not watch
I'll leave a couple on your screen now.