THE FUTURE. PRACTICE

EXERCISE 1

EXERCISE 2

EXERCISE 3

EXERCISE 4

FORMAL LETTERS: EXAMPLES

Commonly used expressions in formal letter. Click here.

Follow the link to read examples of formal letters. Click here and here.

FORMAL LETTERS. VOCABULARY

      DIFFERENT PARTS IN A FORMAL LETTER.

Follow the link.

Addresses:

1) Your Address
The return address should be written in the top right-hand corner of the letter.
2) The Address of the person you are writing to
The inside address should be written on the left, starting below your address.

Date:

Different people put the date on different sides of the page. You can write this on the right or the left on the line after the address you are writing to. Write the month as a word.

Salutation or greeting:

1) Dear Sir or Madam,
If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, use this. It is always advisable to try to find out a name.
2) Dear Mr Jenkins,
If you know the name, use the title (Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms, Dr, etc.) and the surname only. If you are writing to a woman and do not know if she uses Mrs or Miss, you can use Ms, which is for married and single women.

Ending a letter:

1) Yours faithfully If you do not know the name of the person, end the letter this way.
2) Yours sincerely
If you know the name of the person, end the letter this way.
3) Your signature
Sign your name, then print it underneath the signature. If you think the person you are writing to might not know whether you are male of female, put you title in brackets after your name.

Content of a Formal Letter     

The first paragraph should be short and state the purpose of the letter- to make an enquiry, complain, request something, etc.

The paragraph or paragraphs in the middle of the letter should contain the relevant information behind the writing of the letter. Most letters in English are not very long, so keep the information to the essentials and concentrate on organising it in a clear and logical manner rather than expanding too much.
  
The last paragraph of a formal letter should state what action you expect the recipient to take- to refund, send you information, etc.

• FORMAL OR INFORMAL?

ACTIVITY 1

1. Dear Mr. Williams __________________________

2. See you later __________________________

3. Yours sincerely, Alan Stewart __________________________

4. Hi, how’s it going? __________________________

5. Lots of love, from Jermaine __________________________

6. Yours faithfully __________________________

7. Dear Madam __________________________

8. Dear Jeff __________________________

9. Take care __________________________

10.I look forward to hearing from you soon __________________________

11. Sorry I haven’t written for a while __________________________

12. Please can you send me an application form? __________________________

13. Best wishes, from Tracey __________________________

14. Please say hi to Pardeep for me – thanks! __________________________

15. We are writing to inform you that… __________________________ 


ACTIVITY 2. Choose the formal option:

Dear Mr Sexton,

I thought I’d write/ I am writing to complain about the state of the

yard/condition of the playground. Over the last two weeks, I have

  

noticed loads of rubbish/a great deal of litter.

   

I reckon/It is my opinion that this litter is a health hazard. For example,

yesterday a year 4 boy fell over and cut his hand on a broken bottle. The

boy I’m talking about/The boy in question needed four stitches.

Furthermore/On top of this, the litter is an eyesore. Our school has

beautiful views of the river and these are wrecked/spoiled by the litter.

I believe/I reckon that there are a load of things/a number of things

that you could do to fix/rectify this problem. Firstly, it may be posible

for you/you could purchase additional litterbins. This would help

stop/prevent people discarding their litter recklessly/willy-nilly.

What’s more/In addition, I think that our school needs better/more

adequate security to prevent vandals littering.

To finish/In conclusion, I hope you will take my concerns seriously and

I look forward to your reply/you writing back to me.

Yours Sincerely/Yours Faithfully 

CHAIRS OF THE FUTURE

(Based on http://www.teach-this.com/images/resources/chairs-of-the-future.pdf)

Present continuous                  

 Be going to                                      

Will

FUTURE PLANS

TEACH-THIS.COM     
Are you going to ...?
Read each question in the first column and then write a follow-up question using going to in the
third column. Then, ask a partner about their future plans and write down their answers.

Are you going to ... / X Follow-up Question Answer
1. ... go out for dinner this evening? Where ________________________?
2. ... watch a movie this weekend? What _________________________?
3. ... call someone after class? Who __________________________?
4. ... write an email tonight? Why __________________________?
5. ... have a big breakfast tomorrow? What _________________________?
6. ... play sport this week? Where ________________________?
7. ... go on holiday soon? Where ________________________?
8. ... get fit? How __________________________?
9. ... sleep early tonight? What _________________________?
10. ... buy something today? What _________________________?
11. ... improve your English skills? How __________________________?
12. ... get married in the future? Why __________________________?
13. ... learn something new? What _________________________?
14. ... travel abroad next year? Where ________________________?
15. ... save some money? Why __________________________?
16. ... clean your house? When _________________________?

Written by Paul Adams for Teach-This.com ©20I4 TEACH-THIS.COM

FORMS TO EXPRESS THE FUTURE

http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/rules/future.htm

Future tenses

There are several different ways in English that you can talk about the future. This page is an introduction to the most important ones:

- Predictions/statements of fact
- Intentions
- Arrangements
- Scheduled events

Predictions/statements of fact

The auxiliary verb will is used in making predictions or simple statements of fact about the future.

• The sun will rise at 6.30 tomorrow.
• Lunch break today will be 10 minutes longer than usual.
• In the year 2050 all students will have their own computers in school.
• If you help me, I will help you.
• Do you think she will come soon?
• You won't pass your exams if you don't start working harder.
• I know my parents won't let me go to the party.
• Will it snow for Christmas?
• I know she's sick, but will she be back in school tomorrow?

Intentions

The auxiliary verb going to is used in talking about intentions. (An intention is a plan for the future that you have already thought about.)

• We're going to buy a new car next month.
• I'm going to work in a bank when I leave school.
• In the new year I'm going to stop eating so much junk.
• He's not going to go to the dance. He's got too much work.
• I'm not going to watch TV until my science project is finished.
• Are you going to play basketball after school?
• What are you going to have for lunch today?

Note: going to is often used in the past tense to talk about an unfulfilled intention. Examples: I was going to study for my grammar test, but I had no time. / He was going to call you, but he couldn't find his mobile phone. / My grandmother was going to visit us, but she fell and broke her arm.

Arrangements

The present continuous tense is used in talking about arrangements. (An arrangement is is a plan for the future that you have already thought about and discussed with someone else.)

• I'm meeting my mother at the airport tomorrow.
• Our grandparents are visiting us this Christmas.
• Sorry, I can't stay after school today; I'm playing tennis with Jun-Sik.
• My sister's going to the dentist tomorrow.
• I'm not returning home for the holidays, so I can come to your party after all!
• Are you doing anything on Sunday morning?
• Do you know if he is going to the dance with Maiko next week?

Scheduled events

The present simple tense is usually used to refer to future events that are scheduled (and outside of our control).

• Hurry up! The train departs in 10 minutes.
• I leave Frankfurt at 5 o'clock in the morning and arrive in New York
at midnight the next day.
• She has an appointment with the headmaster after school today.
• There's no need to hurry. The train doesn't leave for another 30 minutes.
• When does the meeting begin?

Future continuous

• At this time next week I will be sitting in the plane on the way to New York.
• Don't call me after 10 o'clock. I'll be sleeping.
• If you want to see Miho tomorrow, you will have to go to the school. Shewill be taking a test all afternoon.
• I won't be working on my car this weekend. My mother-in-law will be here.

Future perfect

• I hope my mother will have finished cooking dinner by the time I get home.
• You can come at 6 o'clock. I will have done my homework by then.
• There's no point calling her at home. She will have left for work already.
• On June 25 2020 they will have been married for 60 years.

Future perfect continuous

• By the time I retire I will have been working here for 45 years!
• If she reaches her 60th birthday, she will have been smoking for half a century!

THE FUTURE ACCORDING TO FICTION: UTOPIAS AND DYSTOPIAS

(http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/utopia-dystopia-definition-characteristics-examples.html) 

Definitions

A utopia is a perfect world. In utopias, there are not problems like war, disease, poverty, oppression, discrimination, inequality, and so forth. The word utopia is made-up from Greek roots by Sir Thomas More. In 1516, More wrote a book called Utopia. Depending on the Greek roots used, utopia can either mean 'no place' or 'good place.'

A dystopia, on the other hand, is a world in which nothing is perfect. The problems that plague our world are often even more extreme in dystopias. Dystopia is a play on the made-up word 'utopia' using the root dys, which means 'bad' or 'difficult.' Words like 'dysfunctional' or 'dyslexia' illustrate the use of this prefix.

Characteristics

Utopias                                                          

• peaceful government
• equality for citizens
• access to education, healthcare, employment, and so forth
• a safe environment

Dystopias

• usually a controlling, oppressive government or no government
• either extreme poverty for everyone or a huge income gap between the richest characters and the poorest characters
• propaganda controlling people's minds
• freethinking and independent thought is banned

Examples              

As you probably guessed, examples of dystopias are much more common. After all, if fiction writers could devise solutions to our world's biggest problems, such as world hunger, poverty, and war, then we would probably have implemented them and be currently living in a utopia! Another reason dystopias are more popular with writers is because they are, by their very nature, full of conflict, an integral part of any engaging story.

Dystopias                                                       

Recent example of dystopias include The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins in 2008, which is about a lottery in which children are picked to fight to the death, and Divergent, a 2011 novel (adapted into a film in 2014) about a society split into five factions based on five different personality characteristics as a method to retain control over human nature. As you can no doubt tell, dystopian stories have found an increased popularity in the young adult genre of literature.

There are many classic examples of dystopian stories, including Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. However, probably the most well-known example of classic dystopian literature is 1984 by George Orwell, written in 1949. It's an example of a dystopia in which British society, over time, became warped and transformed into an extreme totalitarian state. In addition to controlling the press, the food, and relationships of the state's inhabitants, the manipulation and control of human thought itself is the goal of this regime. If you've ever heard a political pundit or other writer use the term 'thoughtcrime', 'doublethink', or 'Big Brother', you're hearing terms from 1984.

Utopias

In utopias, the biggest issues that case conflict have been solved: there is no longer war, illness, poverty, or inequality. Sometimes a more enlightened group helps guide our society to a better world, such as inChildhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (1954), where a group of aliens use their advanced technology and ideologies to help humans create a better society.