going to I w ill I w o n 't

Future form s

Going to: Going to is used to talk about:

1 A decided plan o r intention

I am going to ask you some questions. The headmaster is going to retire at the end of term .

2 A prediction based on evidence

The shortage of m aths teachers is going to My grades have gone down this year. I think
get worse. I'm going to fail.

Will: Will is used to talk about:

1 Facts about the future

We w ill cover this topic in more detail la te r in The university w ill adm it five hundred more
the book. students next year.

2 Decisions about the future that we make at the moment of speaking

I'll trv mv best to answer a ll the questions. 'I need to go to the lib ra ry later.' - 'Good idea.
I’ll come w ith vou.’

3 Predictions that are indefinite

Online learning w ill become more popular in A ll large lib ra rie s w ill w ant a copv of this
the future. book.

U Promises and offers

I'll deal w ith your question in just a moment.

Note: Shall is usually used in place of w ill in the question form .

Shall we sta rt again from the beginning?

Won’t: Won't is the negative of will and it is also used to talk about:
Refusal

The teachers say they w on't attend meetings out of school hours.

< ^S e e page 117 in the G ram m ar reference fo r more in fo r m a tio n .^

Grammar for IELTS

 Unit 4

Practice exercises

Decide on the correct grammatical form [will or going to) and complete the sentences 1-5.
Decide which rule matches the meaning of each sentence.
1 'I've made a revision tim etable fo r the next month. I ____________ study hard fo r this
exam !’ F o rm :____________ R u le :_____________
2 ‘In the future, I th in k more pe op le ____________ study courses online.'
F o rm :____________ R ule:_____________
3 'Alejandro has failed many of his exams, so I don’t th in k h e ____________ be able to go
to University this year.’ F o rm :____________ R u le :_____________
U 'No I ____________ let you borrow my calculator. I need it fo r the next exercise.'
F o rm :____________
5 The next academic y e a r____________ sta rt in September. F o rm :_____________
R u le :____________

j Gram mar tip: Going to and w/7/ are based on perspective when used fo r predictions, and
I can often be interchangeable. Som etim es, when a person uses w ill they are not so sure,
i When a person uses going to they are surer. However, as perspectives are subjective,
j there is not usually one correct answer.

! I'll go to one of the best universities in the country, (this prediction is probably based on
; what the speaker wants and hopes)
I I'm going to go to one of the best universities in the country, (this prediction is more
i likely to be based on the student's knowledge of th e ir own academic achievement, for
| example, if they always get the top grades in th e ir class]

2 Read the answers A-C to this Part 3 Speaking exercise and match them to the questions 1-3.
1 How do you th in k education w ill change in the future?
2 What are the main argum ents about education in your country at the moment?
3 Do you th in k education w ill be accessible to a ll in future?

A. Well, the governm ent is going to introduce com pulsory tuition fees next academic year,
and this has caused a lot of anger. Students have been protesting about the unfairness
of these fees. They think that poorer students won’t be able to afford the fees. The
governm ent won’t back down though.
B. In one way, yes. I th in k more people w ill be able to access basic education around the
w orld, like prim ary and secondary schools, and also courses online in practical subjects.
But I th in k university education w ill become more exclusive. I read an article recently
about how the Internet is going to make education available for the w orld, but I think that
w ill mean that good university degrees w ill be more im portant.
C. I think a lot of people w ill study online. The Internet is going to be easily accessible in
a ll countries soon and online courses are cheaper and more convenient than having to
travel to a college or campus. I also th in k more and more people w ill be able to study.

Education 19
 Look again at the questions in Exercise 2 and think about how you would answer them
using w ill and going to.

| Listening exam tip: In the Listening exam, people som etim es contradict each other to
; distract from the correct answer. For example:
John: I'm going to be at home later, so I can do some research on the Internet.
B ill: No, I'll do it. There are computers I can use at the library. (Instant decision)
I Here we can see that B ill offers to do the Internet research, although John firs t
I m entions it.

Look at these sentences 1-3 and write answers that contradict them. Use the verbs in the
brackets.
1 Alex: I’ll pick you up from school la te r if you would like.
Paula: No, that's okay. I _________________ [walk] home as I w ant to get some
sweets from the shop. (Plan)
2 Philip: I’m going to see Jane tonight, so I can te ll her about the homework.
Fiona: Don't w orry, I ________________ [call] her, as I want to speak to her anyway.
(Instant decision)
3 Mike: I m going to w alk over to the lib ra ry tonight and take my book back.
Penny: _________________ [do] it? It's easy fo r me to drive down. (Offer)
Mike: Thanks!

4 Look at the audio script below and correct any mistakes in the future forms. There are five
mistakes.
Librarian: Hello there. How can I help you?
John: I w ill do a presentation on Mary Shelley, and I’d like to get some books on her.
Librarian: Okay. The biographies are on the third floor. I'll to w rite the aisle num ber
down for you.
John: Thanks. I m ight use the Internet too and look for resources on there.
Librarian: That's a good idea. If you're going use the Internet, have a look on the Great
B ritish Authors website.
John: Thanks, I’m going to. I haven't heard of that site before. Thanks very much for
the inform ation.
Librarian: That's quite a ll right. Feel free to come and ask me any questions and I w on't
do my best to help.

Listen to Track 05 on the CD and check your answers.

Grammar for IELTS

 Unit 4

Exam practice: Listening Section 1 - classifying

Listening exam tip: Classifying questions ask you to choose item s from a lis t of options.
Som etim es you have more options than needed (see Q1-3 below) and som etim es you
must reuse options (see Q4-8 below).

Listen to the discussion between a new student and someone in the Student Affairs Office and
answer questions 1-8 below:

06 Who does what?

W rite the correct le tte r A, B, C, D or E next to questions 1-3.
1 A n d y___________
2 C a ro l___________
3 Adm inistration O ffice___________
A com pletes the New Student Form.
B books the libra ry induction.
C stamps the paperwork.
D finds the campus map.
E pays the student fees.
Where should Andy go for the following things?
W rite the correct le tte r A, B or C next to questions 4-8.
4 Flat re n ta ls ___________
5 Tenancy agreem ent in fo rm a tio n ___________
6 Doctor re g is tra tio n ___________
7 Local area in fo rm a tio n ___________
8 Course fee p a ym en t___________
A Student Support Service
B Adm inistrative Departm ent
C Student Affairs

Education 21
5 The Internet
Present co n tinuous I Future continuous I Future p e rfe ct sim ple I Future p e rfe ct continuous

Other future forms

Present continuous: The present continuous is used to talk about:

Definite arrangements in the future (with active verbs]

I’m meeting John later this afternoon. I'm playing a com puter game with him later.

Future continuous: The future continuous is used to talk about:

A situation that w ill be happening at a particular point in the future

This tim e next year, most people w ill be using Tom orrow afternoon, I'll be building my new
the Internet every day. website.

Future perfect simple: The future perfect simple is used to talk about:
Something that happens before a certain point of time in the future

Everyone w ill have learnt how to use the I w ill have spent over £200 on online
Internet in 50 years' tim e. shopping by the end of the week!

Future perfect continuous: The future perfect continuous is used to talk about:
Something that continues until a certain point of time in the future

Next month, I w ill have been w orking at this Come on, it’s my tu rn ! Soon you w ill have
Internet design company fo r ten years. been surfing the net fo r over two hours.

Note: The future continuous, future perfect sim ple and future perfect continuous usually include
a tim e reference, fo r example by 2020, in 20 years' time, by this time next year, next week.

See page 118 in the G ram m ar reference fo r more inform ation.

Grammar for IELTS

 Unit 5

Practice exercises

Decide on the correct grammatical form (present continuous, future continuous, future
perfect simple or future perfect continuous) and complete the sentences 1-5. Use the
verbs in the brackets. Then write the name of the tense.
1 I __________[watch] the concert live online tonight. Tense:_________________________
2 Media experts predict that by 2020 the m ajority of new spapers_________ (moi^e)
online. Tense:_________
3 I __________(change) my Internet su p plier tonight so I m ight not get your em ails u n til
tom orrow. Tense:_________
U The In te rn e t___________ (become} the prim ary source of inform ation by the m iddle of
the century. Tense:_________
5 It is estim ated that in five years’ tim e 30% more people over the age of 6 5 _________
[start] to use the Internet. Tense:_________

2 Underline the examples of the future forms in the following text.

The Rise of Online Shopping

In the late 1990s experts predicted that online shopping would not be able to compete
w ith in-store shopping yet the recent rise in online sales figures suggests that th e ir
predictions were wrong. In fact a ll evidence points to the fact that online shopping w ill
have outstripped in-store shopping w ithin the next five years. This rapid increase has
been driven by a num ber of factors including price, convenience and choice. Most online
retailers use a delivery service and as a result of tracking retailers shopping habits, many
w ill soon be introducing specific delivery tim ings so that custom ers can ensure th e ir
goods are delivered when they are at home. Online companies are already w orking on
innovative ways to a ttract custom ers. For example, la te r this year one of the country’s
largest electronics retailers, Browns, is launching a 24-hour replacem ent products
service fo r custom ers who need to return faulty goods. Browns hopes that by 2015 over
90% of its custom er base w ill have graduated to online purchasing.

As w ell as consumer goods another growth area is the travel industry. Travel experts estimate
that in as little as five years' tim e travel agencies w ill have disappeared from our shopping
centres and alm ost all travellers w ill be buying hotels and flights from online agencies.

The Internet 23
3 Look at the previous text again and match the sentence halves below using the
grammatical forms to help you understand when the actions happen.
1 Browns w ill be
2 In 5 years, travel agencies w ill have
3 Browns claim s that by 2015 custom ers w ill have
4 In the future the m ajority of custom ers w ill be
5 In 5 years' tim e, shopping on com puters w ill have

A moved to online shopping.

B shopping online fo r holidays.
C launching a returns service.
D overtaken physical shopping.
E disappeared from shopping centres.

4 Listen to an interview about online gaming and complete spaces 1-4 in the table with
information from the recording. Remember that the answers w ill be factual information
but the gram mar forms will help you decide what information is needed.

Online gaming trends of the future

Year now - 2015 2015 - 2017 2018 - 2020
Age group 13-19 30-40 1

Game type platform 2 3D

World region 3 _ Eastern Europe w orldwide
Competition none 4 unknown

5 Listen to the interview again and complete sentences 1-4 below with the correct future form.
1 By 2020 the typical age of g a m e rs _____________________ to people over the age of 50.
2 The over 50s age g ro u p _____________________ the same games fo r more than 50% of
th e ir lives by 2020.
3 Companies that make com puter g a m e s _____________________ a global m arketing
system fo r every game they produce by 2020.
4 By 2015 technology fir m s _____________________ the technology needed to enable
people to interact w ith movies.

Grammar for IELTS

Exam practice: Listening - completing a table

Exam tip: R em em ber that in the IELTS Listening exam you may hear the contracted
form of a verb, e.g. it'll've started ra th e r than it w ill have started.

Listen to a m useum cu ra to r talking about three exhibitions on technology and com plete the
table below.

QUESTIONS 1-6
W rite NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER fo r each answer.

W here 1 fln n r third flo o r fourth flo o r

Exhibition name The Internet: Past, 3 Portable Devices of
Present and Future N etworking the 21st Century
Exhibition dates 2 July August 1st - 30th 5
- August 20th
What to see 3D touch screens U w orld 6 sixth sense
technology and
s a te llite

The Internet