Future (1)

Summary: This post is about how to talk about future in English.  To your surprise, 'will' is not always a good choice as it is only one of the ways native speakers (if you like, Westerners) use to refer to future.  The post starts with words of pop songs (lyrics) and moves on to talk about 'three other' futures, focusing on planned future in special.




In lot of American pop songs, you will find things like:

I'm gonna + miss you
I'm gonna + run to you
I'm gonna + dance



But is there any difference between:

I' m gonna + miss you ('m gonna = am going to)
I will + miss you





Of course, they are not the same!  Before you get the answer, there is one question for you.
What is it?

Do you know that ‘will’ is not the only choice for talking about future? Am I kidding?  No, absolutely not.  In English, there are more than one ways to talk about future.  Thus, you don’t have to use ‘will’ all the time for future. 

There are, in fact, mainly four different ways.   Which four?  Read the four sentences first.

1. I will finish the job at 6pm.

2. Our CEO is going to resign when profits are down.

3. Our company is renting a new office.

4. The meeting ends at 3:00pm.

A. Four Ways to Talk about Future

Future (1)	will finish (’ll finish)	will + verb	So-called ‘Future’ Tense
Future (2)	is  going to (’s going to)	is/am/are + going to +verb	Present Continuous Tense
Future (3)	is renting (’s renting)	is/am/are + verb + ing	Present Continuous Tense
Future (4)	ends	verb	Present simple Tense

The table shows you that ‘will’ is not the only choice.  In other words, when you want to talk about future, think about the choices of boyfriends and girlfriends you have.  Usually you have more than one choice, right?  

So, what are the differences between the four ways of talking about future?   Before you get the answers, you have to make something.   You have to make a plan.  For what?  (It is) for learning future tenses in English.

             

A PLAN

Future (1): Planned Future

In English, if you have a plan, you can talk about it with the two present continuous tenses followed:

She is going to meet a new client.

She is meeting a new client.

But is there any difference between ‘is meeting’ and ‘is going to meet’? Actually, they are very similar that they all refer to a future that is planned in advance. 

But if you want to show that you have a strong incentive to do something (i.e. you really want to finish something), you may use ‘are + going to’.  There is, I am afraid, a frightening example for you:

I am going to kill you.

When you use ‘going to’, it mean you have a strong desire that you have probably had a step-by-step plan, and that you are not going to stop until you are there.  In other words, if you use ‘will’, the so called future tense, you are less determined and your words are less powerful:

Less powerful	I will change the world.
More powerful	I am going to change the world.

(Future 2 and Future 3)