If you think that "will" (or its negative forms, will not/ won’t), sandwiched between a subject and an infinitive verb (without to) [I will go] is the key to the Future Tense in English, I’ve got news for you:
Firstly, there is no Future Tense in English !!– no single formula that will serve you to talk about things that haven’t happened yet: instead, we have a variety of ways of talking about the future. And most of them do not involve the use of the word will.
In fact, just as a pair of English TV presenters decided to entitle their fashion-consultation programme What Not to Wear, the best advice that I can offer you here can be summed up under the title When Not to Use “will”.
Let's imagine a space alien arriving in an English-speaking country on a secret intergallactic mission. Calling himself Kevin, he has closely studied the habits of Anglophone humans, but is unfortunately convinced that Subject + will + verb (infinitive) really is the English Future Tense. He says to his colleague:
“Bye! I will go home; I’ll get ready because I’ll go out at 8 o’clock – I'll see the new James Bond film. I’ll meet my friend at the cinema. The film will start at 9:20. If she won't be there when I'll get there, I'll read my book until she'll arrive.”
On hearing this piece of terrible non-English, a mother-tongue English-speaker – although not necessarily aware that Kevin is actually from the planet Shqaarht - would be in no doubt that he is not, as he claims, a native of Littlehampton. Why?
Well, firstly, we don't use “will” to talk about things we've decided to do more than 5 seconds ago. “- I'll get ready” might be something we say as a reply to “- There's an emergency! We need to leave !” just as we reply to “- The phone's ringing.” with “- I'll answer it.” and to “- I've got too many bags” with “- I'll carry one for you.”
But if getting ready is one of a number of things that we have already decided to do, we say “I'm going to get ready.”
Actually, if there is a single key to talking about the future in English, it's this form:
to be + going to + verb (infinitive)
It's fabulously versatile: apart from intentions, we can use it for predictions, plans, imminent and apparently inevitable future events:
“I think it's going to rain” “Are you going to eat all of that pie?”
“Life is going to be difficult without the car”* "She's going to have twins"
“This isn't going to be an easy journey”* “I'm going to be sick!”
Only the sentences marked with an asterisk (*) could also be expressed using “will”. In the other cases “going to” is the only possible solution.
Let's get back to Alien Kevin. Now, one situation where we never use “will” is describing arrangements – things that we have organized with other people. Here we simply use the present continuous tense:
“I'm going out at 8 o'clock – I'm seeing the new James Bond film. I'm meeting my friend at the cinema.”
It is possible to use “going to” here as well (“I'm going to see..”,”I'm going to meet”), but “will” is a no-no.
Then there are timetabled or scheduled events in the future: Once again“will” doesn't work here; we use the present simple - “The film starts at 9:20” (although, again, “The film's going to start at 9:20” doesn't sound too bad).
Now we come to the trickiest bit. I've already mentioned (in my “wish” article) conditional forms: ways of talking about 2 events or actions when one is dependent on the other. If you have ever learnt about the “First conditional”, you have probably been taught that it is used for “possibilities in the future”, and follows this form:
If my helicopter breaks down, I'll call a mechanic.
[(condition) If → present simple, (consequence) subject + will + verb {infinitive}...]
NEVER: If my helicopter will break down
True, and very important; but this is just the tip of the iceberg!
The same structure that we use with if, or its negative form unless,
(“I won't touch that python unless someone assures me that it's friendly” ),
or other expressions of condition,
(“As long as no-one discovers our plan, we'll get away with millions of dollars.”)
is also used for events/actions in the future linked by time expressions: the future event that follows when, until, the moment, as soon as, before, while, after, is always expressed in a present tense:
“If she isn't there when I get there, I'll read my book until she arrives.”
Four future events; only one will !
You may have noticed that I said “a present tense” That's because the condition or time clause can be expressed using either the present simple (as above) or the present continuous,
“While you're making your Oscar acceptance speech I'll wash my hair.”
or the present perfect:
“As soon I've finished reading my paper I'll help you sedate that elephant.”
Once again, in all the above cases where will is used, going to would also be acceptable. You've probably noticed by now that if Kevin had decided to use going to rather than will as his universal “future tense” solution he might have escaped suspicion, and, rather than his current location in a CIA interrogation centre, would be sipping cocktails and admiring the scenery of Shqaarht. Or Littlehampton.
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