Unit 8: Plans & Life Events
Grammar Focus: Future Plans and Wishes
In this unit, we learn two important ways to talk about thefuture and our desires. We use be going to when we talk about future plans and intentions that we have already decided on [1, 2]. For example: I am going to meet Jill for lunch today. It is also used whenthere is evidence in the present that something is sure to happen, like seeing black clouds and saying, “It’s going to rain” [3, 4].
We use would like to to express a wish or desire politely [5, 6]. It is a more polite form of “want”. For example: I would like to go to the movies. The structure is would like + infinitive (to + verb) or would like + noun [5, 7]. In questions, we invert the subject and auxiliary: Would you like a coffee? [5, 6].
Advanced Note: While ‘going to’ is for plans, we use ‘will’for decisions made at the moment of speaking or for indefinite predictions [1, 2]. Be careful not to confuse them!
Exercise 1: Future Plans with ‘Be Going To’
Complete the sentences using the correct form of be going to (am/is/are going to) and the verb in parentheses [8, 9].
- I (play) football this afternoon with some friends.
- We (have) a coffee after the class.
- She (visit) her sister in town tomorrow.
- They (watch) the new Marvel movie tonight.
- I’m hungry, so I (buy)a sandwich.
- My parents (stay) at home this evening.
- He (do) his homework later.
- You (need) a warm coat for the trip.
Exercise 2: Negative Plans
Make these sentences negative usingbe going to [9, 10].
- I am going to play volleyball. → I play volleyball.
- You are going to do gymnastics. → You dogymnastics.
- She is going to go swimming. → She go swimming.
- We are going to play tennis. → We play tennis.
- They are going to run in the race. → They run in the race.
- He is going to buy anew car. → He buy a new car.
- I am going to watch TV tonight. → I watch TV tonight.
- It is going to rain today. → It rain today.
Exercise 3: Vocabulary – Life Events
Match the verb on the left with the correct noun phrase on the right to formcommon life events [11, 12].
- go a. a job
- get b. to university
- start c. born
- be d. married
- have e. a business
- move f. a baby
- finish g. to the countryside
- retire h. school
Exercise 4: ‘Like’ vs ‘Would Like’
Choose the correct form to complete the sentences. Remember: ‘like’ is for general preference, ‘would like’ is for specific desires [7, 13].
- I (like / would like) to go to the cinema tonight.
- She (likes / would like) playing tennis on weekends.
- (Do / Would) you like a glass of water?
- They (like / would like) living in New York generally.
- We (like / would like) to orderdinner now, please.
- He (likes / would like) chocolate ice cream; it’s his favorite.
- (Do / Would) you like swimming in the ocean?
- I (like / would like) to buy a ticket to London.
Exercise 5: Unscramble the Sentences
Put the words in the correct order to make sentences about plans [14, 15].
- going / is / She / play / to / tennis / .
- not / to / We / are / going / travel / .
- you / Are / to / going / visit / Peru / ?
- buy / going / He / is / to / phone / a / .
- watch / They /going / are / to / movie / a / .
- to / I / am / going / study / hard / .
- dinner / make / is / going / Dad / to / .
- going / rain / Is / it / to / tomorrow / ?
Exercise 6: Vocabulary Categorization
Classify the following words into the correct group: Life Events or Future Time Expressions [11, 16, 17].
tomorrow, get married, next week, graduate, retire, tonight, have children, in a month
- Life Event:
- Life Event:
- Life Event:
- Life Event:
- Time Expression:
- Time Expression:
- Time Expression:
- Time Expression:
