English has no future tense. How then can we speak or write in English about the future?

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  1. English has no future tense.”  How then can we speak or write in English about the future?

Introduction

  Despite the fact that for several decades linguistic analysis has supported that English has no future tense, people, even native English speakers, tend to consider this at least unacceptable. ‘How then can we speak or write in English about the future?’, is the most common response. Are there indeed any languages that lack specific tenses or even don’t have tenses at all? And if so, then how is time indicated?

Tense Vs Time

 The first thing we need to do is establish the definition of and consequently the distinction between these two terms. ‘Tense’ refers to the inflected forms in the conjugation of a verb, such as past or present, as well as the continuance or completion of the particular action or state; it indicates time, but it is not the time reference. The latter is rather what the word ‘future’ indicates. Thus there is a distinction to be drawn between these two, since future is commonly thought of as the tense, which is not all the case.

Ways to refer to the future in the English Language

  In fact, the reason why English does not ‘have’ an English tense is because there is not a compound form referring to the future; there is no inflection in the verb to indicate such a reference, in the way there is in Spanish, French or Turkish for example. Rather, it is formed by the modal verb ‘will’ and the bare infinitive form of the main verb. So, there has been much conflict as to whether ‘will’ can be part of the morphological tense-system, or of the modal system of English, or perhaps simply homonymous.

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  However, there are still a number of ways of expressing future in English besides the one mentioned above (which is the commonest, though), all of which have their particular nuances of meaning and are generally not interchangeable.  

  • Be going to+ Infinitive

This structure is typically found in informal spoken English and generally denotes a future fulfilment of the present intention. It contrasts with will/shall+ Infinitive in that the latter is associated with a spontaneous decision at the time of speaking, a prediction or a promise. Let’s illustrate this with following example:

‘The phone is ringing. ...

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