Back to: English Language Primary 4
Welcome to class!
In today’s class, we will be talking about using future tense accurately in sentences. Enjoy the class!
Using future tense accurately in sentences
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Simple Future Tense
Form
shall/ will + verb e.g. will go/shall go
Sentences
| I / He/ She/ We/ You/ We/ They | will go | to the park tomorrow. |
Sentences with ‘not’
| I / He/ She/ We/ You/ We/ They | won’t go | to the park tomorrow. |
Questions
| Will | I / he/ she/ we/ you/ we/ they | go to the park tomorrow? |
Function
The future tense is used:
| 1. To talk about future facts |
e.g. My father will be fifty years old next month.
e.g. Mr Lee will go to Japan tomorrow night.
| 2. To express willingness |
e.g. If the weather is fine tomorrow, we will go for a picnic.
| 3. It is always associated with certain time expressions like: – |
‘tomorrow’; ‘next month/ week’; ‘later’; ‘soon’
| 4. We use Shall I..? when we want to do things for other people. |
e.g. Shall I turn off the fan?
| 5. We use Shall we? to make a suggestion. |
e.g. Shall we go for a picnic tomorrow?
Simple conversation using the appropriate words -using modal auxiliaries to make sentences
Modal Auxiliaries
Modal verbs are a kind of auxiliary verb. They facilitate the main verb for suggesting potential, expectation, permission, ability, possibility, and obligation.
When used with the main verb, modal verbs do not end with –s for the third-person singular. Modal auxiliary verbs never change form, but they have a different form for past tense.
The modal auxiliaries include:
| Present Tense | Past Tense |
| Will
Can Must (have to) May Should (ought to) (had better) |
Would (used to)
Could (Had to) Might Should (ought to) |
NB: The words in parentheses ( ) are semi-modals. They have the same meaning, but they are different grammatically.
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Will – Would:
Will indicates a ‘willingness’ to do something in the future. The negative form of will – will not (won’t) indicates an ‘unwillingness’ (refusal, reluctance) to do something.
Example:
- I will give you another opportunity.
- I will play tomorrow.
- They will arrive at 10 AM.
- She won’t come today.
Would indicate general or repeated willingness in the past. It also indicates preference in the present.
Example:
- If you did not leave, I would still be taking care of you.
- Whenever I had to go there, they would throw a party.
- We thought that people would buy this book.
- If I were you, I would not do it.
- I would like to make a toast.
Used to sometimes replaces would but sometimes it would be grammatically incorrect if we use used to in place of would.
Example:
- When I was in school, I used to make sketches.
- He often used to cry at night without reason.
- I used to take a break at this time of the year.
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Can – Could – May – Might:
These modals express possibility and ability.
Can indicates ability. Could indicates ability with an option.
Example:
- I can do it. (The subject ‘I’ is sure about his/her ability)
- I could do it. (The subject ‘I’ is not sure about his/her ability)
- They cannot do it. (present)
- They could not do it. (past)
Can & could also indicate possibility.
Example:
- The temperature can rise this month.
- They can’t go too far by now.
- It could rain later.
May and might both indicate possibility, but might can suggest that there is less possibility than may.
Example:
- It may rain later.
- It might rain later.
- They may come back.
- They might come back.
In our next class, we will be talking about Using Past, Present, and Future Tense Accurately in Sentences, etc. We hope you enjoyed the class.
Should you have any further question, feel free to ask in the comment section below and trust us to respond as soon as possible.
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