English grammar practice exercise, for pre-intermediate and intermediate level.
In this exercise you will practise the future simple (will) versus the ‘going to’ future.
Instructions: Use the words in brackets to put the following into the correct tense – the future simple (will) or ‘going to’ future:
| Structure of future simple | ||
| statement | negative | question |
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I will (I'll) be there tomorrow. You will (you'll) be there. He/she/it will (he'll) be there. We will (we'll) be there. They will (they'll) be there. |
I won't (will not) be there. You won't be there. He/she/it won't be there. We won't be there. They won't be there. |
Will I be there tomorrow? Will you be there? Will he/she/it be there? Will we be there? Will they be there? |
| Structure of 'going to' future | ||
| positive | negative | question |
| I'm (I am) going to take my holidays in August. | I'm (I am) not going to take a holiday this year. | Are you going to take a holiday? |
| He's (he is) going to watch TV this evening. | He isn't (is not) going to watch TV this evening. | Is he going to watch TV this evening? |
| Future simple - common mistakes | ||
| Common mistakes | Correct version | Why? |
|
- The phone's ringing. - |
Ok - I'll answer it. | If the action is decided at the moment of speaking, we use 'will' / 'will not'. |
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I'm sure he will help you. | When we say what we think or expect, we use 'will'. |
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I probably won't be there. I'll probably be there. |
The adverbs 'definitely' and 'probably' comes before 'won't' but after 'will'. |
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I promise I'll help. | After 'promise' we usually use 'will', not the 'going to' future. |
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I'll call you when I come to my office. | When we refer to the future in adverbial clauses, we normally use the present simple (after 'when', 'as soon as' and 'until'). |
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If you give me your address, I'll send you a postcard. | When we refer to the future in conditional clauses, we normally use the present simple. |
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I can't see you next week. I am returning/am going to return to Paris. | To show that the decision was made in the past, we use the present continuous or the 'going to' future. |
| 'going to' for future - common mistakes | ||
| Common mistakes | Correct version | Why? |
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You know that I am going to buy a new car, don't you? | We use going to for a future action that has been decided before the time of speaking. |
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Look! You are going to drop your books. | We use going to if we see (and are sure) that the action will happen. |
