There are two kinds of personal futures: personal futures which are certain and personal futures which are uncertain.
Certain mean you have already decided what your plan or arrangement is. Because you’ve decided, it’s certain.
Uncertain means you haven’t decided yet, you are still thinking about the possibilities. Because you haven’t decided yet, it’s uncertain.
Let’s look at the grammar you can use for personal certain and uncertain futures.
Task 1: Sort these items into the table below.
|
...be Ving…
Can you make n.p….?
Can you manage n.p….?
I can make n.p….
I can manage n.p….
I can’t make n.p….
I can’t manage n.p….
It is our intention to V…
|
I hope to V…
I intend to V…
I may V…
I might V…
I need to…
I want to V…
I’m thinking of Ving…
It is our hope that we
can V…
|
I would like to V…
I’ll be Ving…
I won’t be Ving…
I’ll probably V…
I’ll probably be Ving…
I probably won’t V…
I probably won’t be Ving…
I’m going to V …
I’m not going to V…
|
|
Personal certain
|
Personal uncertain
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*2015/01/16更新
Task 2. Answers
Here are the answers to the previous task:
|
Personal certain
|
Personal uncertain
|
|
|
I’m going to V …
I’m not going to V…
It is our intention to V…
I hope to V…
I intend to V…
I need to…
I want to V…
It is our hope that we can V…
I would like to V…
|
... be Ving…
Can you make n.p….?
Can you manage n.p….?
I can make n.p…
I can manage n.p…
I can’t make n.p….
I can’t manage n.p…
I’ll be Ving…
I won’t be Ving…
|
I may V…
I might V…
I’m thinking of Ving…
I’ll probably V…
I’ll probably be Ving…
I probably won’t V…
I probably won’t be Ving…
|
*Notice that ‘will V’ does not appear here. That’s because ‘will V’ DOES NOT express personal future plans, intentions or arrangements. We’ll look at this in more detail soon. For now, just know that ‘will V’ is not the same at all as ‘I’ll be Ving / I won’t be Ving, I’ll probably V / I probably won’t V, I’ll probably be Ving / I probably won’t be Ving…’
*Notice that ‘be going to V’ expresses a plan or an intention.
*Notice that ‘be Ving’ (also known as the present continuous) expresses arrangements.
*All the set-phrases with ‘make’ and ‘manage’ are used for making arrangements, for suggesting times or places to meet (Can you make 2:00 on Thursday?), and for accepting (I can make 2:00) or rejecting (I can’t manage it then) these suggestions.
*There is no difference between ‘I may V’ and ‘I might V’. ‘I’ll probably V’ expresses more certainty than ‘might’ and ‘may’, but it’s still not 100 % certain.
*You may have put ‘I hope to V’ as uncertain. Actually it’s certain, because you have already made the decision to do this.
*Notice that ‘I want to V’ and ‘I would like to V’ are frequently used to express future plans and intentions.
*When you use the verb ‘go’ with the chunk ‘be going to V’, you can omit one of the ‘go’s. ‘I’m going to go home’ becomes ‘I’m going home’. ‘I’m going to go to Hong Kong’ becomes ‘I’m going to HK’. This is because it sounds a bit strange to have so many ‘gos’ together. You’re not a gogo dancer, right!
Read through the personal emails again and underline the language items from the language bank. Notice how they are used.
