📄️ Introduction
There are several ways to use verbs to talk about the future in English. This is a complicated area of grammar: the differences between the meanings and uses of the different structures are not easy to analyse and describe clearly. In many, but not all situations, two or more structures are possible with similar meanings.
📄️ going to
A present tense
📄️ Present progressive for future
Present reality: I’m washing my hair this evening.
📄️ Simple present for future
Timetables, etc: The summer term starts …
📄️ will
Forms
📄️ "will", "going to" and present progressive: advanced points
Will is the basic structure for talking about the future. We use will if there is not a good reason for using present forms.
📄️ Future perfect
will have + past participle
📄️ Future progressive
shall/will + be + …ing
📄️ "be to" + infinitive: "I am to …", "you are to …", etc
Plans and arrangements: He is to visit Nigeria.
📄️ Future in the past
Sometimes when we are talking about the past, we want to talk about something which was in the future at that time – which had not yet happened. To express this idea, we use the structures that are normally used to talk about the future ((see here), but we make the verb forms past. For example, instead of is going to we use was going to; instead of the present progressive we use the past progressive; instead of will we use would; instead of is to we use was to.