What the future holds…

Future time can be expressed in English in different ways. Using the auxiliary “will / shall” together with the bare infinitive of the main verb is the most neutral and most usual way of conveying the idea of future time in English. However, there are other structures which are also used to refer to future time in different situations, namely the present simple, to be going to + bare infinitive, the present continuous (be + verb-ing), the future perfect and the future continuous.

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Here are some examples:

- I´ll be home at ten o´clock, I promise, mum!   (A promise)

- I think it´ll rain tomorrow.   (An assumption with regards to the future)

- (Telephone ringing) I´ll get it!   (A spontaneous decision)

- Time will tell.   (An action in the future that cannot be influenced)

- It´s getting hot in here. Shall I open the window?   (An offer- Only with 1^st person singular and plural)

- The train leaves at 4 o´clock.   (A scheduled event in the near future)

- The sky is getting greyer and greyer. It´s going to rain any minute.   (A prediction based on evidence)

- We are going to travel to London next Easter.   (A plan: a decision is made)

- We are travelling to London next Easter. The flight was very cheap.  (A plan: the arrangements are made)

The last two tenses mentioned, the future perfect and the future continuous, are explained in the following presentation:

Future perfect and future continuous

View more PowerPoint from Lola Domínguez

Now you can try the following exercise to check what you learnt with the previous presentation. 

Whitney Houston, In Memoriam

This week we´ve celebrated Saint Valentine´s Day, for many the day of love, but on Sunday, 12th February, I woke up to the sad news of the decease of  someone who used to sing to love sublimely but who, paradoxically, seemed to lack love so much. As a child, Whitney cherished music like her aunt (Dionne Warwick) or her mum did and she, undoubtedly, inherited their talent and developed it to a mastery level despite her ups and downs in life. One may think that she was ill-treated by life or, rather, that she ill-treated her own life.

Whitney Houston
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Many artists before her couldn´t possibly handle fame and money and their successful careers ran in parallel with their miserable lives. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Michael Hutchence, Amy Winehouse and many other musicians tragically ended their lives far too soon. They left this world but yet, they will always live in their music and their talent will be relished and praised by those who can appreciate their work forever.

Let me invite you to see and listen to one of Whitney´s most memorable performances in the following video: 

Alternatively, you can follow this link to the page Lyrics Training to listen to the same song as you exercise your listening skill by filling in the gaps:

Charles Dickens' 200th Anniversary

On the 7th of February, the world celebrated the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, who is today considered the greatest writer of the Victorian period and whose stories and characters are still as vivid and powerful as when they were created, many years ago.

Charles Dickens

In the following exercise we are going to watch a video about the life of this English writer. After that, you can answer some comprehension questions about the contents of the video.

Alternatively, you can do the same exercise by clicking here

Wear, Put on and Dress

Wear, put on and dress

View more presentations from Inma Dominguez

Air Travel

Air Travel

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Mr Bean´s Xmas shopping

Let´s have a Xmas laugh with Mr. Bean!