Focus on Grammar. Expressing the Future

Expressing the Future

1. will is an auxiliary of the future in simply predicting a future event.

They will go to the country tomorrow.

2. The Present Continuous is used to express an arrangement, usually for the near future.

I’m going to the cinema tonight.

They are coming to see us tomorrow morning.

3. The Future Continuous expresses an activity that will be in progress around some particular time in the future.

Don’t phone him tomorrow. He will be preparing for the seminar.

Tomorrow at this time we’ll be crossing the English Channel.

4. The Future Perfect expresses an action which will have finished before a definite time in the future.

I’ll have done this task by 4 o’clock.

Mother will have made the lunch by the time they come.

5. The Future Tenses are not used in the subordinate clauses of time and condition (if, when, before, after).

I’ll go there after I finish this work.

If he invites her, I won’t go to his party.

Exercise 1. Match a future form in box A with its definition in box B

A B

1. We’ll have finished breakfast by 1. an arrangement

the time you come. 2. an activity which will be in

2. I am meeting her at 2 o’clock in progress at a certain time

Picadilly Circus. 3. a planned action

3. At 3 o’clock tomorrow we’ll be 4. a simple prediction

having a nice time abroad. 5. an action that will be finished

4. I’ll give you my jacket in case you before a definite time

need it.

5. You’ll be very happy with your 6. a spontaneous intention

husband, I am sure. 7. an action that will happen in the

6. I am going to study English in Britain. natural course of events

7. My plane leaves at 10 on Thursday.

Exercise 2. Put the verb in brackets in a suitable future form.

1. I... (to go) to Germany next summer. 2. We have decided we... (to do) something different this weekend. Usually we go to the country. 3. If you... (to wake up) me tomorrow, I... (to go) there with you. 4. I... (to meet) Emma at three. She... (to join) us for dinner. 5. We... (to complete) the project by the end of the year. 6. When you... (to return), he... (to be) probably there already. 7. At 3 o’clock tomorrow he... (to present) his paper at the conference. 8. Before the end of the holiday he... (to spend) all his money. 10. Come at 7 o’clock. I’m sure Tom... (to come) by that time. 11. At four o’clock tomorrow I... (to play) tennis. 12. When Jill comes back everybody... (to be fast asleep). 13. What …you (do) when I come. 14. The train …(to leave) by the time we come to the station.

Exercise 3. Read a situation and then write a question in a future form.

Example: It is nice outside. You want to go for a walk.

Question: Shall we go for a walk?

1. You and your friend are late for a party and you suggest to take a taxi. You say...

2. You want to borrow a dictionary from your friend and want to know if he will be using it tonight. You say...

3. You want to visit your friend tomorrow at 5 o’clock but you don’t know if he’ll be busy. You say...

4. You want to know if your friend will have finished the work by tomorrow. You say...

Text 2.

Pre-reading task.

13. What do you already know about the system of higher education in Great Britain?

14. Look through the text and find the answers to the folloing questions:

a) Where can higher education be obtained from in Great Britain?

b) Do the majority of young people proceed to higher education in Great Britain?

c) Name the three types of British universities.

d) What degree is usually taken in final examinations after the first three years of study?

e) What can you say about the teaching system in British universities?

f) Why is adult education so important?

g) Where can further education be obtained from?

Higher education in Great Britain can be obtained from a university, a college (or institute) of higher education or at alternative college. What usually identifies most of these institutions is that a student, after a prescribed period of study and after passing his examinations will receive a degree and become a graduate of his institution. However, only a small percentage of the age group in Britain proceeds to higher education, in contrast to the higher rates in many major industrial nations.

The universities

There were twenty-three British universities in 1960. After a period of expansion in the 1960s, there are now forty-six, with thirty-five in England, eight in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland, and one in Wales. They can be broadly classified into three types. The ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge (composed of their many colleges) date from the twelfth century, but until the nineteenth century they were virtually the only English universities and offered no place to women. However, old universities had been founded in Scotland, such as St.Andrews (1411), Glasgow (1450), Aberdeen (1494), and Edinburgh (1583). The second group comprises the ‘redbrick’ or civic universities such as London, Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester, which were mainly created between 1820 and 1930. The third group consists of the new universities founded after the Second World War, and later in the 1960s. Many of the latter, like Sussex and East Anglia, are set in rural countryside.

Only about 10 per cent of British students leave university without finishing their courses. The successful majority aim for a good degree in order to obtain a good job, or to continue in higher education by doing research (master’s degrees and doctorates). The bachelor’s degree (Bachelor of Arts or Science, BA or BSc) is usually taken in final examinations at the end of the third year of study, although degree courses do vary in length in different subjects. For example, engineering is often 4 years while medicine and architecture are usually 7 years. The final degree is divided into first-, upper-second, lower-second, third-class honours, and pass.

Teaching is mainly by the lecture system, followed up by tutorials (small groups) and seminars. Many university students may live on campus in university accomodation, while others may choose to live in rented property outside the university. Few British students choose universities near their parents’ homes.

Other ways to obtain technical education

Polytechnics existed for some time in Britain in one form or another. But most of the recent institutions were created in the 1960s. The Polytechnics were initially seen as the “people’s universities”, and were designed for specific tasks. But they have developed to such an extent that they are now equivalent to universities in many ways. All have higher degrees and research capacity, and since 1991 the Government has decreed that they should all be granted university status.

Today, the former polytechnics have a wide range of arts and science courses at both degree and sub-degree level. Students may study for a degree or a diploma in a professional skill and may be on a full-time or part-time course.

Further and Adult Education

An important aspect of British education is the provision of further and adult education, whether by voluntary bodies, trade unions, or state institutions. The present organizations originated to some degree in the thirst for knowledge which was felt by working-class people in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century, particularly after the arrival of state education and mass literacy. Today, local authorities provide such educational opportunities in colleges of further education, technical colleges, and colleges of commerce. These institutions offer a considerable selection of subjects at basic levels for a wide range of part-time and full-time students. Many of these institutions also provide opportunities to students to take university entrance examinations.

Adult education is provided by these colleges, the universities, the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), evening institutes, and local societies and clubs. There has been a recent expansion of continuing-education projects, as well as programmes specifically designed for adult employment purposes. Adult courses may be vocational (relating to a person’s job or search for a job) or recreational (for pleasure), and cover a wide range of activities.

There are several million part-time students at these various institutions, and their ages range from 16 to 80 and beyond.

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