Looking at the future

Rees,

MEMORANDUM

Kingdom plc AGM 3rd May 10.00 am Falcon Crest Hotel

Predictions with WILL and GOING TO.

Both WILL and GOING TO can be used to make predictions about the future.

By using going to, we indicate a personal involvement when we predict the future. Going to is usually used when we have immediate evidence of something.

By using will, we indicate a neutral viewpoint when we predict the future, e.g. will is often used in scientific reports.

However, there are many situations when either will and going to can be used. The choice indicates the feeling of the speaker about the situation he/she is predicting, not the situation itself.

Work in pairs. Use WILL or GOING TO to make predictions about the things below. Remember that in some cases either can be used, depending on the viewpoint of the speaker.

You see a small child riding a toy car in the middle of a busy street.

You see some people driving towards the mountains. They have skis on top of their car.

Someone asks you to predict the winner of a sports event.

You are giving a presentation about your company. You are predicting figures for next year.

You are writing a report and you mention the finishing date of a project.

Work in pairs. Make three predictions about each of the things below.

1. The economy of your country,

2. Your company.

3. Your personal life.

Look at the information about the annual general meeting (AGM) and the memo, and answer the questions below.

10.00 a.m. Opening address Dr Rees Powell CEO

10.30 am. Financial report Paul Greer Director

11.00a.m. Appointment of Directors Dr Rees Powell CEO

11.15 a.m. Open forum Dennis Mitchell Director

To: Dr Rees Powell From: Dennis Mitchell

Date: 15 April 19 __

Just to keep you up to date on plans for the AGM. We think there will be about 200 shareholders attending, but of course there might be more. Unfortunately, Paul Greer is flying to Paris on the 2nd May, and he thinks he's going to be late getting back because he's got a lot of business to attend to while he's there, so I'm going to ask Karen Faulkner to take his place. I think we should include a short report on international developments. Shall I invite Bob Yule to prepare something?

On a slightly different note, I'm meeting Nigel Hall from JPB tomorrow, so I'll give him our latest prices then.

See you on Thursday. Dennis.

1. When does the meeting start?

2. Who is giving the opening address?

3. How many shareholders will there be?

4. Where is Paul Greer flying to on the 2nd?

5. Does Paul think he is going to be back in time?

6. Who is Dennis going to ask?

7. What does Dennis offer to do?

8. What is Dennis doing tomorrow?

Find examples of different future forms from the previous exercise, according to the following functions:

Talking about time-tabled events.

Talking about plans and arrangements.

Talking about intentions.

Predicting.

Reacting (offering, deciding, promising etc.)

In English we can use different forms and functions of the future to show that we are looking at the same event in different ways.

Examples:

The meeting starts at 3.00 p.m. (time-tabled event)

Mr Fujita is coming to the meeting. (fixed arrangement)

I'm going to ask Mr Fujita about the contract during the meeting.

(intention)

Look at this agenda! We're going to be in this meeting for hours!

(prediction with immediate evidence)

I expect about ten people will come to the meeting. (prediction)

I’ll come to the meeting tomorrow. (deciding/ offering / promising)

Look at the conversations below, and fill each gap with the correct future form. (Short forms, for example, I'll, take one gap.)

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