IELTS Preparation Series 2, Episode 11: Mangroves
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Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
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On Study English today, we'll talk about the language of speculation and take a look at
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identifying the future tense. Speculating about the future is a very important language
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skill for the IELTS speaking test.
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But first, let's watch today's story. We'll visit a mangrove forest where we'll meet one
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of the more interesting animals that calls the forest home - the goanna, and a new animal
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- the cane toad - that might be threatening the mangrove goanna.
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Possibly because it's very hard to get into the mangroves all year round, especially in
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the wet season when there's a lot of water. This site's one of the only spots where you
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can get in without a boat all year round so that's why we chose it.
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Are cane toads likely to come into mangrove mud flats like this?
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It's probable that they'll come in small numbers, but from radio tracking these goannas it looks
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like the mangrove goannas will head out onto the flood plain and they do seem to eat frogs
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so it's possible that when the cane toads arrive here on the flood plain in big numbers
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the goannas will eat them. So it's possible there'll be an impact.
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We expect that most of the goannas are going to eat a cane toad and die, but we're just
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hoping that some of them, even a small proportion, won't be interested in eating a toad and they're
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the ones that will be living to pass on their genes and hopefully bring numbers of goannas
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back up, eventually.
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So the scientists aren't sure what will happen in the future.
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When we're trying to 'predict the future' - or speculate about what might happen - we
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have several language choices.
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Let's put together a list of our options.
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First, we have verbs. We could use verbs like:
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guess
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suppose
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imagine
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think
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suspect or hope
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Second, we can use modal verbs.
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For example:
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may
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will
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would
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might or
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could
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Or, we can use conditionals like if:
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For example:
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If I pass the exam I will buy myself a new DVD.
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Other conditionals use similar constructions like this:
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If, I might, or
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If, I could
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We might also use discourse markers to speculate about the future.
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Some examples are:
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perhaps
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maybe
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hopefully
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possibly
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or even: you never know
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And, finally, we can use adjectives.
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It's likely that
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it's unlikely that, or
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it's possible that
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So here's our list of choices:
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We can talk about the future using:
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verbs
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modal verbs
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conditionals
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discourse markers or
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adjectives
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Now, let's hear some of these in practice.
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Listen to James Smith talking about what might happen to the cane toads and goannas.
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It's probable that they'll come in small numbers, but from radio tracking these goannas it looks
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like the mangrove goannas will head out onto the flood plain and they do seem to eat frogs
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so it's possible that when the cane toads arrive here on the flood plain in big numbers
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the goannas will eat them. So it's possible there'll be an impact.
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He says, 'it looks like' the mangrove goannas will head out.
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When discussing the future, there are many verbs we can use. For example:
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it looks like
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it seems
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I expect
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I hope
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I imagine or
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I suspect.
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These verbs are followed by future tense constructions.
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In our example James says:
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It looks like the mangrove goannas will head out.
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He uses the future tense, 'will', to say what the goannas will do in the future.
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Let's hear more from James:
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We expect that most of the goannas are going to eat a cane toad and die, but we're just
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hoping that some of them, even a small proportion, won't be interested in eating a toad and they're
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the ones that will be living to pass on their genes and hopefully bring numbers of goannas
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back up, eventually.
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James says:
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We expect that most of the goannas are going to eat a cane toad.
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Expect is the verb.
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And are going to eat uses the future tense to predict what will happen.
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James also uses discourse markers.
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He says that if goannas don't eat toads then this will hopefully bring numbers of goannas
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back up.
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Discourse markers like hopefully, maybe, possibly or probably can all be used to speculate about
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the future.
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They can also give us an idea about what the speaker thinks. James hopes the goannas will
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survive.
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The final item on our list was adjectives. Listen to how James uses adjectives to speculate
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about the future.
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It's probable that they'll come in small numbers, but from radio tracking these goannas it looks
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like the mangrove goannas will head out onto the flood plain and they do seem to eat frogs
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so it's possible that when the cane toads arrive here on the flood plain in big numbers
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the goannas will eat them. So it's possible there'll be an impact.
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James says:
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It's probable, and
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It's possible
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These are examples of using adjectives to show that the speaker is talking about something
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that 'might' happen in the future. James is speculating about things that 'might' happen.
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In English, we can also say it's likely.
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So we can have:
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It's probable the cane toads will come.
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It's possible the cane toads will come.
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or,
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It's likely the cane toads will come.
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In each of these cases, we use the future tense - will come.
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In English we have to decide which tense to use when referring to things that might happen
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in the future.
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English uses three verb forms when referring to future actions - the simple future, the
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present continuous and the future continuous.
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We can use the simple future - that's will plus a verb - there will be.
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We can also use 2 forms of the present continuous - either the auxiliary verb to be plus the
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present participle, or the auxiliary verb going to with a main verb.
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Finally we can use the future continuous - will plus the auxiliary verb to be plus the present
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participle.
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Listen for the future tenses in this clip:
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We expect that most of the goannas are going to eat a cane toad and die, but we're just
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hoping that some of them, even a small proportion, won't be interested in eating a toad and they're
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the ones that will be living to pass on their genes and hopefully bring numbers of goannas
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back up, eventually.
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There were three examples in that clip.
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Are going to
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Wont' be and
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Will be
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Did you hear them? Listen again.
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We expect that most of the goannas are going to eat a cane toad and die, but we're just
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hoping that some of them, even a small proportion, won't be interested in eating a toad and they're
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the ones that will be living to pass on their genes and hopefully bring numbers of goannas
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back up, eventually.
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He says: Some cane toads 'will be living' to pass on their genes.
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Will be living uses the future continuous tense.
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He also says: Are going to eat. That uses the present continuous tense.
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The present continuous tense is used to describe actions in the immediate future that are definite
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or planned.
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A good example of the present continuous tense is:
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What are you doing tonight?
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I'm going to see a film.
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And that's all for Study English today.
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Let's take a look back at the things we've talked about.
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First, we looked at the language of speculation - the language you use to talk about things
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that might happen in the future.
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We saw examples of Verbs
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Modal verbs
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Conditionals
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Discourse markers and Adjectives
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Then, we looked at examples of future tenses - the simple future tense, the present continuous
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tense and the future continuous tense.
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And if sometime in the future, you need some help with your English - why not visit our
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Study English website. You will probably find everything you need.
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And that's all for today. I'll see you next time for more Study English. Bye bye.
