28 Future forms and meanings (2) Future continuous @ Weuse the future continuous: ~ for an activity that will be in progress at a point in time or for a period of time in the future: This time tomorrow welll be sitting on a plane. I'l be studying in the library all evening. ~ for intentions or events that are fixed or expected to happen: They'll be going to town tomorrow to do some shopping. He'll be arriving at six. ~ to talk about a future activity without expressing deliberate intention: She'll probably be running her own company in a few years’ time! ‘© Compare the future continuous and future simple (will): [Ul go and see Ethan tomorrow. (a deliberate intention or promise) _/’ll be seeing Ethan tomorrow so | can give him your message. (an action that will happen anyway, one not specially planned) Future perfect simple © Weuse the future perfect simple for an action that will be completed before a particular time in the future, often with by or by the time + present simple: P'll have finished this job by Friday. We'll have cooked dinner by the time you get here. Future perfect continuous © We use the future perfect continuous with for to emphasise the duration of a state oraction which will probably continue after the time mentioned: We'll have been living here fortwo years in January. PRACTICE Complete the conversations. Use the future simple (will) or future continuous of the verbs in brackets. ‘A: Would you like to come for lunch on Saturday? B: Unfortunately, | (0) .....22 WOKING (work) all day on Saturday. A: That's too bad. | (1) .. (phone) you on Sunday. @ (you / be) in? ‘As Do you ever think about what you (3) .. (do) in ten years? time? B: Sometimes limagine | (4) .. (have) a much more interesting job and | (5). (earn) a lot of money. But to be honest, | think 1©@ (probably / work) here, doing the same job as now. 'm taking the car so | (7), }: Thanks. | (8)... @)- ex - (give) you a lift tonight. (play) tennis until seven but | (be) back shortly after that. 65166 28b Write sentences. Use the future continuous, future perfect simple or future perfect continuous. What will life be like in fifty years’ time? © we/ use / energy that doesn’t harm the environment We'll be usit that dc "t harm the vit 4 scientists / discover / life on other planets 2 the Earth’s climate / become / much hotter than it is today 3. we / not use / fossil fuels like coal and oil 4 doctors / not find / a cure for the common cold 5. people / live / on the moon for several years / by then 6 the Internet / replace / television / as our main source of entertainment 28c Complete the interview. Use the future simple (wil), future continuous or future perfect of the verbs in brackets. Interviewer: Today we're talking to Professor Marjorie Brown about life in the future. Let's start with homes. Professor, what will our homes be like? Professor: Well they might not look very different from homes today but ©. certainly be. (chere / certainly / be) differences. In twenty years’ time homes (i) .. .» (become) smaller. This is because more and more people @ (live) in crowded cities. However, designers (3) (undoubtedly / find) ways of making small homes more comfortable. For example, the homes of the future (4) (have) walls that can be moved so that space can be used in different ways. Scientists 6). (also / invent) glass that can change from transparent to black. Transparent glass lets light and heat in and out. Black glass keeps it in. This 6) ...0.o.0 (help) us to control the temperature of our homes. Interviewer: (7) .. (there / be) any other changes to the way we live? Professor: Yes, one major change. Experts predict that by 2024 humans ® (live) on the moon. One can only imagine what homes there (9) (ook) like! And I think that by then many of us (10) (take) at least one holiday in space and maybe even to the moon. Imagine that.29 Other ways of talking about the future We use be + to-infinitive to talk about formal plans or arrangements, instructions and prohibitions: The Queen is to arrive at 10.00 to begin the ceremony. You are to be there no later than eight o'clock. We use be due + to-infinitive to talk about events that we expect to take place at a fixed time, e.g. with timetables: The bus is due to arrive any minute. We use be (just) about + to-infinitive or be on the point of +-ing form to talk about events that we expect will happen very soon: We're (ust) about to leave. | think he’s on the point of asking her to marry him. ‘Some verbs refer to the future: plan/hope/intend + to-infinitive: The company plans to build anew supermarket. | hope to study law next year. PRACTICE 292 Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first, using the word in bold. Use between two and five words. © You must pay your fees before classes begin. are YOu 2. L your fees before classes begin. 1 Dylan isn't going to spend the night here. intend Dylan the night here. 2 The judges will announce the winner any moment now. about The judges . the winner. 3 The President will announce his resignation very soon. point The President i: his resignation. 4 Elizabeth thinks she will travel to Africa next year. hopes Elizabeth to Africa next year. 5 Charles isn’t going to write his essay tonight. plan Charles is essay tonight. 6 They must not begin without me. are They .. 7 The police are going to stop the search very soon. about The police the search. 8 Clarissais having her operation in three weeks. due Clarissa her operation in three weeks. without me. 29b Complete the conversations. Use the correct form of the words in the box. be/about/make be/due/open be / onthe pointof /call hope / find hope / have intend /finish intend / pay notbe/come notbe/ due /arrive not plan / go are not to come A: You've got school tomorrow so you (0) than ten. B: Oh, all right. 67‘hear you're expecting a baby. Congratulations! Thank you. My husband (1) .. a git this time but I don't mind as long as its healthy. And now there’s another baby on the way, we're moving into a bigger house. That's a big decision. Have you seen anywhere you like? : Yes. In fact, we (2) an offer for a house near where we live now. @P @> We've been waiting for ages. What time is the bus supposed to be here? }: I'm afraid it (3) for another twenty minutes. I'm so cold | (4) .. a taxi. What do you think? : | don’t mind. But how (5) that much money with me. PRPer don't have What's happening with the new hospital? Welt, they sayit (©) .. likely. A: | think you're right. I'm sure everyone (7) .. these on time but they never do. SP yext month but | don’t think that’s projects like What are you going to do next year when you finish college? B: Well, (8) -a job. | (9) university for at least another year, 30 future in the past When we are talking about the past, we sometimes need to refer to events that were still in the future at that point. To do this, we use the same forms we use to refer to the future but we make the verbs past.PRACT aL 302 Circle the correct answer. © All the way there | knew we(were going to)/ were about to be late. 1 The film was due to / was about to be released in October. 2 He looked asif he was crying / was going to cry at any moment. 3 When they last saw her, she would get / was getting married the following day. 4 The ceremony wos to / was about to take place at the palace but they were forced to change the venue. 5 The instant they met, they knew they were due to / were going to be friends. 6 | was going to / was to move to London but decided against the idea. 7 We took our seats because the film would / was about to begin. 8 Liam was going to buy / was buying a new car but in the end he decided not to. 9 | always thought | was to / would be famous one day. 10 Hailey was to / was about to go out when the phone rang. 30b Complete the conversation. Use the correct form of the words in brackets. A: What happened? | thought you © were going 6) on holiday yesterday. B: We were - and then everything Went wrong. We'd made all the arrangements and a taxi Q)... us to the @)... (be / due / arrive), we heard there was terrible traffic on the roads and they were advising people not to use the motorway. So when the taxi came, we told the driver we @).. . (go) to the train station instead of the airport. He dropped us off and we got onto the train. But as it @ (be / about / pull away), it broke down and we were stuck at the station. We were sure we (5) . .. (be) late but eventually, another train arrived and we got to the airport. We © be / just about / check in) when we heard that they'd changed the departure time of our plane —it O. ‘not leave) for another twenty-four hours! So we put our bags back on the train and here we are! What a nightmare! | hope you intend to make a complaint. Of course. | (8) (pian / be) on a beach right now and instead I'm waiting for another taxi. fake) ort but just before it >