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Shall I put "will" in these following subordinate clauses?

He will cook as his mother will show him tomorrow.

I will go where she will stay.

Even though she will study in London, her girlfriend will still stay here.

Thanks a lot!

1 Answer 1

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In the first two, you can use "will", but I don't think native English speakers would do so: I would say "the way his mother shows him tomorrow" (it's unnatural with "as") and "where she stays". This is because there is no true future tense in English, and where future meaning is derivable in other ways, the present can often be used for it.

In the third case, there is nothing that fixes the subordinate clause in the future, so "will" is more likely. But "her girlfriend is staying here" is also possible.

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  • Thanks so much for your kind help, sir!!! Not just "present simple" but also all of other present tenses like "present continuous tense" "present perfect" "present continuos perfect" can be used to express future in this structure right? But "be going to" is acceptable right?
    – moyeea
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 16:50
  • Yes, In that structure even the present perfect tenses are possible ("Ring me when you've finished"; "When they've been working for two hours, they can have a break".) But 'no' to your last question: within the temporal clause, "be going to" is no more likely than "will".
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 17:35
  • Sorry sir, I think I said something unclear. I mean we can use "be going to" in this structure. Like:""""as I'm going to do""" "If they are going to do""""Besides, sometimes even though the future is derivable, we still need to use "will" Like: """"Because they will go to the city center, so they will help you buy something"""" right, sir?
    – moyeea
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 17:58
  • Yes, an explicit "will" or "going to" in the dependent clause is often possible, even if not required. But "If they will go " and "if they are going to go" both have an additional connotation beyond "if they go". "If they will go" means something like "if they are willing to/agree to go", and "if they are going to go" means "if they have a definite intention to go". A "because" clause does not, I think, follow the same rules, perhaps because it is logically and so usually temporarily before the consequent. A "because" clause does need explicit marking of futurity.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 18:21

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