There are future tenses

Have no faith in the future
There is no future tense in the English language.
By TOM HAYTON
A COMMON misconception is that English has many tenses. In fact, it only has two: the present tense and the past tense. There is no future tense in English.
When we speak of tenses, we are referring to the form of verbs and the way we change them to express a sense of connection to a particular time or time period. For example,
I have meetings nearly every day
uses the present form of the verb “have’’. This shows that having meetings is something I do in the present time. Perhaps not right now, but often enough (nearly every day) for us to say it’s something I do in the present.
In this example,
I had a meeting yesterday
we change the form of the verb to show that the particular action of having the meeting has now finished (just as yesterday has finished). Other examples of these changes include:
play to played
dictate to dictated
speak to spoke
think to thought
For those of you who want to believe in a future tense, tell me, what are the future tenses of any of these verbs? They do not exist. You won’t find them in any dictionary.
In English, we get round the problem by having several different ways of talking about the future. These include:
The present simple:
I fly to Singapore next week
This form is used when the action has been time-tabled. It sounds a little formal when used in the first person.
The present continuous:
I’m flying to Singapore next week
Adding “next week’’ anchors the concept to the future. This form is used when the action has already been arranged (with an airline and a client, in this case).
“Going to”:
I’m going to fly to Singapore
This is used to talk about personal plans that perhaps haven’t been arranged with anyone else.
Finally, we have “will”. I’m sure some readers have been told that “will” is the definitive future form but in fact, “will” has many uses. In future contexts, it is used to talk about spontaneous decisions:
A: “I can’t find my car keys.’’
B: “I’ll give you a hand.’’
Or predictions:
“I think we will lose earnings in the next quarter.’’
Or as part of an “if” clause:
“If we don’t cut overheads, we’ll slip into the red next quarter.’’
The future tense doesn’t exist – so don’t believe in it!
Tom Hayton is a Business Trainer with the Professional Development Unit (PDU), at the British Council Malaysia. The PDU offers a wide range of learning opportunities from management and communication skills training to developing English skills. Visit its website at www.britishcouncil.org.my or e-mail thomas.hayton@britishcouncil.org.my
The above article appeared in the MIND OUR ENGLISH section of THE STAR of September 7, 2007 and after reading that, I sent my following email on September 9 to the Editor of MIND OUR ENGLISH receiving no reply:-
Quote
I am rather surprised to read the statement, “There is no future tense in the English language” under the article titled Have no faith in the future in MIND OUR ENGLISH of Friday September 7, 2007.
There are (inclusive of future tenses) 16 tenses in the English language namely:-
1. Present simple 2. Present continuous 3. Present perfect 4. Present perfect continuous 5. Past simple 6. Past continuous 7. Past perfect 8. Past perfect continuous 9. Future simple 10. Future continuous 11. Future perfect 12. Future perfect continuous 13. Future simple in the past 14. Future continuous in the past 15. Future perfect in the past and 16. Future perfect continuous in the past.
Just like the present continuous which appears to have been acknowledged as a tense in the article, any future tense requires the accompaniment of one or more auxiliary or helping verbs in its formation.
All these can be confirmed in any book or website about English grammar.
Furthermore, from the sentences mentioned in the article - 'I'll give you a hand', 'I think we will lose earnings in the next quarter' and 'If we don't cut overheads, we'll slip into the red next quarter' - aren't these verbs (used therein which are underlined) in the simple future tense?
Regards,
Kengt, Penang
Unquote
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Teoh - Seeking the use of correc
I have chanced upon some sections of the Wikipedia and decided to place them hereunder to show that they are actually future tenses in the English language:-

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_tense#English_tenses

Viewed in the strictest linguistic sense, English has only two tenses, marked in the verb alone: nonpast tense (present tense) and past tense. ........

Since will is a modal auxiliary, it cannot co-occur with other modals like can, may, and must. Only aspects can be used in infinitives. Some linguists consider will a future marker and give English two more tenses, future tense and future-in-past tense, which are shown by will and would respectively. Also, in nonlinguistic language study, aspects and mode are viewed as tenses.

Future tense in English

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_tense

In English, as in most Germanic languages, there is no simple future tense. Futurity is expressed either by using words that imply future action ("I go to Berlin tomorrow.") or by employing an auxiliary construction that combines certain present tense verbs with the stem of the verb which represents the true action of the sentence.

The tradition that English has a future tense traces to the period of 300 years, from 1066 to about 1350, when Anglo-Norman was the official language of England. Norman, unlike English, is a Romance language; and the Romance languages, unlike Germanic languages, do have a simple future tense.November 02 8:20:46 PM




Teoh
My above email was forwarded to the writer of the article with no indication to me and I received the following reply from him on September 20, 2007:-
Hi there Kengt
Thank you for writing in with comments on my article.
I am sorry to have to reiterate the fact that there is no future tense in English.
As I explained in my article, a tense is a form of a verb. There is no future form of any verb in English. ‘’will’’ is an auxiliary which *sometimes* (for example, in the contexts I gave as examples) expresses the idea of the future.
Some languages, for example, French, there is a future form.
I’m sure I don’t have to remind you of this but you shouldn’t believe everything you read in books! The reason why some grammars list a ‘’future tense’’ in English is a hangover from the days when Latin was taught as part of the school curriculum. It was then convenient, for the purposes of translation, to pretend that ‘’will+verb’’ and other forms that may be used to expressed the future under certain contexts of use, constituted a future tense. In many schools today, teachers continue to work on this basis, but linguistically speaking, it is incorrect.
If I haven’t made it clear, have a look at The English Verb by Michael Lewis. He devotes a whole book to the structure of English verbs, which he discusses lucidly and with humour.
Thanks again and I hope you continue reading the column. Feel free to drop me a line any time.
All the best
TomSeptember 21 6:22:01 PM