Our people will be going to their country more.
Note that a time adverbial or an adverbial of frequency is normally required with the future progressive.
4.56 If you are referring to something that has not happened yet but will happen before a particular time in the future, you can use the future perfect.
By the time you get to the school, the concert will have finished.
Maybe by the time we get there he’ll already have started.
By then, maybe you’ll have heard from your sister.
Note that you must indicate the specific future time referred to by using a time adverbial or another clause.
indicating duration
4.57 If you want to indicate the duration of an event at a specific time in the future, you can use the future perfect progressive.
By the time the season ends, I will have been playing for fifteen months without a break.
The register will have been running for a year in May.
Note that you need to use a time adverbial to indicate the future time and an adverbial of duration to state how long the event will last.
Other ways of talking about the future
be going to
4.58 If you are stating an intention that something will happen, or if you have some immediate evidence that something will happen fairly soon, you can use be going to followed by an infinitive.
I’m going to explore the neighbourhood.
Evans knows lots of people. He’s going to help me. He’s going to take me there.
You’re going to have a heart attack if you’re not careful.
We’re going to see a change in the law next year.
planned events
4.59 You can use be due to and be about to to refer to planned future events that you expect to happen soon. They are followed by infinitive clauses.
He is due to start as a courier shortly.
The work is due to be started in the summer.
Another 385 people are about to lose their jobs.
Are we about to be taken over by the machine?
Time adverbials with reference to the future
firm plans for the future
4.60 The present simple is used to talk about timetabled or scheduled events. The present progressive is used to state firm plans that you have for the future. A time adverbial is necessary unless you are sure that the hearer or reader knows that you are talking about the future.
My last train leaves Euston at 11.30.
The UN General Assembly opens in New York later this month.
Tomorrow morning we meet up to exchange contracts.
I’m leaving at the end of this week.
My mum is coming to help look after the new baby
vague time reference
4.61 When you want to make a general or vague reference to future time, you use an adverbial that refers to indefinite time.
I’ll drop by sometime.
Sooner or later he’ll ask you to join him there.
In future she’ll have to take sedentary work of some sort.
Here is a list of indefinite time adverbials that are used mainly with future forms:
in future
in the future
one of these days
some day
sometime
sooner or later
tomorrow
4.62 Adverbials that include the word tomorrow are mainly used with references to future time.
We’ll try somewhere else tomorrow.
Shall I come tomorrow night?
He’ll be here the day after tomorrow.
This time tomorrow I’ll be in New York.
next
4.63 Some adverbials that are mainly used with reference to future time include the word next. If you are using a specific day or month such as Saturday or October, you can put next either before or after the day or month. Otherwise, next is placed in front of the time reference.
Next week Michael Hall will be talking about music.
Next summer your crops will be very much better.
I think we’ll definitely be going next year.
Will your accommodation be available next October?
The boots will be ready by Wednesday next.
A post mortem examination will be held on Monday next.
She won’t be able to do it the week after next.
Other uses of verb forms
4.64 So far in this chapter, the commonest and simplest uses of the various verb forms have been dealt with. However, there are also some less common uses of tenses.
Vivid narrative
the present
4.65 Stories are normally told using the past. However, if you want to make a story seem vivid, as if it were happening now, you can use the present simple for actions and states and the present progressive for situations.
There’s a loud explosion behind us. Then I hear Chris giggling. Sylvia is upset.
The helicopter climbs over the frozen wasteland.
Chris is crying hard and others look over from the other tables.
He sits down at his desk chair, reaches for the telephone and dials a number.
Forward planning from a time in the past
4.66 There are several ways of talking about an event that was in the future at a particular time in the past, or that was expected to occur. These are described in the following paragraphs.
events planned in the past
4.67 The past progressive can be used to talk about events planned in the past, especially with some common verbs such as come and go.
Four of them were coming for Sunday lunch.
Her daughter was going to a summer camp tomorrow.
My wife was joining me later with the two children.
4.68 The past simple of be can be used in structures used to express future events, such as be going to, be about to, and be due to. The implication is usually that the expected event has not happened or will not happen. For more information on be going to, see paragraph 5.231.