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Predicting
Blog »Grammar

SAYING WE ARE SURE SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN

We can use will and shall to talk about what will happen.

Exports will continue to rise over the next few months.
I shall be staying in Tokyo for the next three days.
We shan't stay long: we have to be at Mary’s by six.

  • We can emphasise our certainty by adding really, (most) certainly / definitely, almost certainly, etc:
    You definitely won't like the exhibition.
    You'll certainly like their new CD.

  •  We can express doubt by adding presumably, (most) probably, etc:
    You probably won't like their new single.
    You'll presumably be wanting some more.

Differences between shall and will

We use shall with I or we. It's old-fashioned with other persons:

I shan't have your X-ray results until next week.
You shall go to her party, I promise.

  • When predicting something, or expressing determination, there is little difference in meaning between shall and will:
    We shan't / won't arrive much before midnight, I'm afraid. (= predicting)
    I shall / will succeed, just you wait and see. (= determination)

  • But we use only will, not shall, to ask for predictions
    Will I get grade A, do you think?
  •  We commonly use shall to make polite offers, or to ask advice:
    Shall I turn the lights on?
    Shall I wear the green or the blue tie?

SAYING IT IS POSSIBLE SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN

We use may, might and could to say that something is possible:


It may / might / could rain tomorrow.

  • However, we commonly use will rather than may / might / could in questions:
    Will it ruin tomorrow, do you think?
  •  We can also use would in conditional sentences to predict what would happen if something else happened, or to talk about things that are very unlikely to happen:
    He would get very annoyed if you rang him now.
    A sunny holiday in Wales? Now, that would be a miracle!
  •  However, we can use will if other words in the sentence show that something is unlikely:
    I doubt if we'll ever again experience a winter quite as cold as this one.
  •  We can emphasise the degree of probability by adding other words:
    She could conceivably come along a bit later. (= it's just possible)
    She may / might very well come along a bit later. (= it's quite likely)

  • The situation, stress and intonation, and other words we use in the statement can affect the degree of probability more than the modal itself:
    I suppose she might come, but I doubt it. (= it's doubtful)
    Actually, I think she might very well come. (= high probability)

IN MY OPINION ...

We can use should and ought to to make subjective predictions. In the negative, we avoid oughtn't to, and prefer shouldn't:

They ought to / should win the next round easily.
You shouldn't have trouble with traffic.

  • We use should and ought to to predict favorable events:
    She should fail her driving test.
    The weather should be horrible tomorrow.
    She'll probably fail her driving test.
    She should /ought to do well in her driving test.
    The weather will be horrible tomorrow.
    It should be fine tomorrow.


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