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We have already seen that the present simple can be used with adverbs referring to future time: The Olympic Games bigin in two week's time. The present progressive can also be used in this way, but introduces an additional element of personal planning, intention or agreement on the part of the subject: I am meeting him at six-thirty tomorrow evening. The form going to + infinitive is very commonly used to express intention on the part of the subject, or to express what appers likely or inevitable: I am going to tell him what has happened. It's going to be difficult to persuade him to change his mind. The forms will/shall + infinitive may be used in a purly predictive way: I shall be forty-five next Saturday. The space shuttle will land at 6 p.m. our time tomorrow. However, shall and will often function as modal verbs, carrying an attitudinal implication (promise, threat, ditemination, probability, etc.), and as there are so many other ways of referring to future time, it can be misleading to speak of a 'future tence', as if it were something as formally distinct as, say, the present or past tense. Any references made in these notes (for convenience) to 'future' should be considered in this context. |