There are many tenses to indicate the future time, Look at these examples:
Tomorrow is a holiday (today is Saturday, so the day after Saturday is Sunday)
I am seeing my dentist this afternoon (I have got the number of the patients)
Fauziah is going to study in medical faculty (She passed the entrance test)
A doctor will give the prescription.
Don't call me at 9 tomorrow, I will be teaching. Call me at 10, during the break.
Addition 1
We can use The Simple Present Tense for near future like this afternoon, tomorrow, tonight; as it is about facts, or habitual action , lets have more examples for habitual action:
The plane leaves at 6.30 (based on the fixed schedule).
On Monday, Rio gets Biology after the flag rising ceremony.
I am free on Monday (based on the work shift, so it is concluded last Monday, this Monday, and next Monday)
Addition 2
We can use The Present Continuous Tense to indicate planned activity in the future.
Study these examples:
OSIS is having a meeting next Saturday (the announcement/ invitation has been displayed on the bulletin board).
We are leaving for Bandung tomorrow; at six in the morning (the train tickets are ready with us).
The students are playing 'flying fox" at the outbound next week (planned by the committee)
Addition 3
Be Going To, is also an alternative to indicate the premeditated (planned) activity in the future. Study the following examples:
I want to change the wallpaper. My brother is going to do that on Saturday morning (I have bought the new wallpaper)
The Sumardi's are going to Sydney by the end of the month (Mr. Sumardi got a scholarship for the Doctor Degree, he takes all of the family)
I am going to make a sponge cake (The ingredients are ready in the kitchen, I have worn the apron, too)
Addition 4 : Simple Future
The pattern :
Subject
+
will
+
infinitive
Noun
Subject
+
will
+
be
+
Adjective
Preppositional places
For the first person we use 'shall' not 'will' (it is widely used in British English) :
To express the speaker's opinions, assumptions or speculations about the future.
I'm sure he'll come back
Perhaps we'll find him at the football field.
They’ll probably wait for us.
To future habitual actions which we assume will happen.
Rainy season will come again.
Birds will build their nest.
Future tense is used with clauses of condition, time and sometimes purpose.
If I drop this glass, it will break.
When it gets warmer, the snow will start to melt.
I circle the mistakes so that my students will know and try to fix them.
To express the future of some verbs of senses verbs of emotion some thought possession, and the verb be, though be going to is sometimes possible, these verbs cannot of course express the future by using the present continuous:
They will know the information tonight.
He will be here at six.
You’ll have time for tea
Mother will smell the fragrance.
The baby will hear the music if you put the flowers here.
The car will belong to you once you send the down payment.
The color of the wall will look dull at night.
To announce the future plans in newspapers and broadcasts. However, in conversations, such statements would normally be expressed by the present continuous or be going to form. NEWSPAPER EXTRACT: The president will officially open the new airport tomorrow.
For the first person we use 'shall' not 'will' (it is widely used in British English). Formerly, will was kept for intention. I/we will is used for intention, particularly at the moment of decision:
A: I'm not quite ready.
B: I'll wait for you.
Compare to this ('shall' was used when there was no intention, i.e. for actions where the subject's wishes were not involved):
I shall be 25 next week
We shall know the result of the election next week (because it will be in the paper)
New function of shall: shall for determination. Sometimes people feel that to express determination they should use another word, a 'heavier' word, a word not normally used much, and so they say shall: (in a speech):
We shall fight and we shall win. Or
We will fight and we will win. Or
We will fight and we shall win, would be equally possible. (The speaker is promising victory)
Shall used in this way is sometimes carries the idea of promise which we get in second person shall:
You shall have a sweet = I promise you a sweet
He shan’t come in = I won’t let him come here
Shall is used in this way in ordinary conversation: - I shall be here, I promise you.
But will here is equally possible and less trouble for the student. When in doubt use will.
(most of the explanation about the future tense is adopted and adapted from "A Practical English Grammar/A.J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet/Third Edition/1983)
Addition 5 : Future Continuous Tense
Be Going To, is also an alternative to indicate the premeditated (planned) activity in the future. Study the following examples:
The Pattern:
Affirmative
: Subject + will/shall + be + infinitive without to + ing
Interrogative
: Shall/Will + Subject + be + inf. without to + ing + ?
Negative
: Subject + will/shall + not + be + infinitive without to + ing
This tense has 2 uses:
1. As an ordinary continuous tense.
Period
Time
Tuesday
Wednesday
1st
07.00 – 07.20
Reciting Al Qur’an
Computer
2nd
07.20 – 08.00
Physical Exercise
Computer
3rd
08.40 – 09.20
Physical Exercise
Math
4th
09.20 – 10.00
Math
Math
10.00 – 10.30
1st recess
1st recess
5th
10.30 – 11.10
English
Physic
6th
11.10 – 11.50
English
Physic
11.50 – 12.30
2nd recess
2nd recess
7th
12.30 – 13.10
Civics
Indonesian Language
8th
13.10 – 13.50
Civics
Indonesian Language
The timetable on Tuesday and Wednesday from class IX .1 of a Junior High School above can be used as an example that future continuous tense takes place.
Suppose it is Tuesday, at 10.30; So IX.1 students are studying English, but tomorrow at the same time they will be studying Physics. After the second break they are having Civics (Continuous here indicates future) but tomorrow at the same time. They will be studying Indonesian Language.
2. To express future without intention
Example:
I am seeing Tom tomorrow.
I'll be seeing Tom tomorrow
The first means that the speaker and Tom have deliberately arranged the meeting, but the second means that Tom and the speaker will meet perhaps because they work together. The present continuous can only be used with a definite time and for the near future, while the future continuous can be used with or without a definite time and for the near or distant future. We can say:
I am meeting him tomorrow, but I'll be meeting him tomorrow/next year/some time (or without a time expression at all
