FUTURE TENSE
Lisa Lickel
Third in a series discussing the most common forms of Verb Tense
Some good sites to visit:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/tenses/simple_future.htm http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl
Future Tense speaks to some
event or action or plan that is yet to take place. Either a plan, a hope, or a
dream happens in this moment in time is being considered about the future. It
has not happened in the past, and is not underway now in the present. There
should not be confusion. Future tense is not an “if I…” wish, which is speculative
and subjunctive/hypothetical and not relevant to a particular time frame.
Future
verb tense falls into two categories: simple/simple continuous and future/future
continuous (continuous or progressive). Both have a Perfect case
SIMPLE/SIMPLE CONTINUOUS (Or PROGRESSIVE)
FUTURE TENSE
SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE often is written something like, “I will…” Other verbs and
modifiers are as I wrote above, “I plan to…” or as simply as, “Let me/us…”
We are going to
I want to
I could
NOTE: Many of these will often
toe the line of speculative tense, in that it refers to something that I want
to/would do, but can/could not because of improbability/impossibility. That
case is NOT future tense.
However, future tense can meld in some cases with present and past
tense, and may look something like the following.
“Okay, guys, here’s the plan.” Detective Reynolds looked each of
his three team members in the eye, gauging and assessing their potential
reactions. “Tommy, you’ll take point. Gina, you have your
assignment. We’re counting on you to find the
control room.”
Tommy and Gina exchanged a tense nod.
“You can count on me, boss. I got this one,” Tommy
said.
Gina pulled on her gloves and flexed her fingers. “I memorized the
layout of the building.”
SIMPLE FUTURE PERFECT TENSE refers to an action or an event that will be complete in the
future and uses “have/had.”
Example:
I looked at the candy in my hand, melting into my fingerprints. I will have finished
the whole box of chocolates when I swallowed this caramel-filled dainty.
FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE or CONTINUOUS TENSE
means that the future action is
not finished. It also uses “had” and “had been”; ”will have been,” and so
forth. It is unfortunate that this case is generally considered weak and
passive because it involves verbs of motion that show change, also referred to
as “dynamic,” and very often end in “ing.”
Example:
Reynolds followed Tommy and Gina, pleased with HIS dedicated and
dependable cohorts for their assignment to eradicate the Inglorious Kings gang,
that had
been ongoing for eighteen months.
Using this construct is not wrong, but authors must be careful to
use it correctly and in appropriate situations. Those who critique and edit the
English language should also consider the unique contextual situation when
jumping on the “avoid passive and weak” usage (and I freely admit to being one
of them).
In certain genres in fiction that use situational planning to move
the story forward, often crime and procedurals, and chick lit or similar categories with a great deal
of introspection, and non-fiction self-help, future tense is essential to the
story. Don’t be afraid to use it. After all, Dorothy would never have reached
the opportunity to click her heels three times, or Frodo the means to destroy
the One Ring if there was no determination to move into the future.
