Speak Better English with Harry | Episode 538

Want to sound more natural when talking about what will happen? This English episode focuses on natural phrases to discuss future events, express your opinions, and make informed guesses. Improve your English vocabulary and speaking fluency for everyday situations, professional meetings, or when preparing for English proficiency exams like IELTS, TOEFL and CAE. 

You'll learn how to talk about topics like the weather, sports, and business without using overly formal language. If you're an intermediate to advanced English learner looking to speak with more confidence and sound like a native speaker, this episode is for you.

Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to English Lessons with Harry. Yeah, that's me. Okay, so let's get on to the lesson. So what are we going to talk about in this particular lesson? Well today we're going to talk about making predictions, making predictions in English. How to make predictions, what they mean. Okay, so I'm going to give you some phrases and then I'm going to go through them and I'll try and tell you which of these expressions that for making predictions are a little bit more formal and some of them that are slightly less formal. Some of them are neutral so you can use them in any particular situation. So again, making predictions and to predict something means to guess or to work out something might happen in the future. So we might make a prediction about the weather. Okay, so is it going to rain? Is it going to snow? Is the wind going to blow? Is the sun going to shine? Particularly if you're going to go on holidays or you're going to have some sport events. So you like to make some predictions. So the first one is a little bit formal. There's no likelihood of, okay, so there's no likelihood of snow this winter because the forecast suggests that it's going to rain, but it's unlikely to turn to snow. So there's no likelihood of a white Christmas. So when people get close to Christmas, they always want to know, are we going to have a white Christmas? Are the kids going to be able to make the snowmen? Going to have those lovely pictures and photographs of snow outside and the snowman and all the things that go with that. So wouldn't it be great if we could have a white Christmas? But unfortunately, this year, there's no likelihood of, no likelihood of a white Christmas. There's no likelihood of the prices coming down anytime soon. So we're likely to be paying more for the foreseeable future. So there's no likelihood of any reduction in the prices. Okay, so we use this expression a lot when we're talking about inflation or inflationary impact on our economy. There's no likelihood of. Next, it's unlikely that, well, this is quite neutral. It's unlikely that I'm going to be able to come to the party. I think one of the kids has got to go somewhere and I'm going to have to drop them there and then I'm going to have to go and pick them up. So by the time I do that, it's not going to be easy for me to get there. So it's unlikely that I'll make it. But I'll let you know and sure, if things change, so I can just call around. There's no harm done. Okay, so it's unlikely that I'll be able to get to your party. It's unlikely that I'm going to be able to call you tomorrow. I just don't think I'll have the time. So I won't promise. In fact, if I'm going to call you, I'll send you a text in advance, but I don't think it's going to happen. So it's unlikely that I'll get the chance. It's unlikely that I'll be in town over the next couple of weeks. So could you get me the book? Yeah, perhaps if you're calling by that bookshop, you can run in quickly, get it. I'll send you the name by text because I'm not going to be able to get near town for the next couple of weeks. So it's unlikely that I'll be passing by, but you might. And if you could, sure, that would be great. I'd really appreciate it. There's absolutely no way. There's absolutely no way that the boss is going to agree to your demands. Looking for your salary to be increased by three or 4K, it's just not going to happen. So you're really just, I think he'll tell you just to go away and think about it again. There's absolutely no way that he'll agree to that. He might, he might agree to something a little lower. And perhaps you should just ask him for a salary increase and see what he says without putting a gun to his head. So why don't you go in and tell him the way you feel, but without putting a figure? Yeah? Okay, so there's absolutely no way that I can see that he's going to give you that salary increase. There's absolutely no way that this government is going to get re-elected. I mean, really, look at the mess they've made of the economy. You know, when things were good, they didn't give us tax breaks. Now that things have gone a little worse, all we see is price increases, price rises, price increases, job losses. So there's absolutely no way that I can see that this government is going to be re-elected. People would be mad to vote them in again. And if they do vote them in, well, they've only got themselves to blame. So there's absolutely no way that I can see that they will get re-elected. If you or any of your family or friends you think want to have one-to-one lessons, we've got lots and lots of teachers available that can help you out, whether you're planning for a new job and you need some practice for interview techniques, or indeed you just want to get on to that next level in English, whether you're intermediate and you want to go to the next level or you're upper intermediate and you want to go to advanced, we're here to help and there's always something we can do. So contact us on www.englishlessonvirescout.com and just simply book a try lesson with me and we'll work out what you need and how to help you. Now the next one is a little bit more formal. As likely as not, it's a little bit of a mouthful, as likely as not he'll call and cancel. You know what he's like. As likely as not he'll cancel, he did it the last time and if you remember he I think he did it the previous time. So every time we invite him for dinner he's always got some excuse or something comes up and maybe he's just busy, maybe he's shy or maybe he doesn't want to say no, maybe he just prefers his own company or maybe he doesn't like my cooking. Yeah, so as likely as not meaning yeah there's every chance that he's going to cancel again. So don't be surprised if two days before we'll get a text saying oh something's come up. I'm going to have to take a rain check on that invitation. So as likely as not he's not going to come okay as likely as not I think this team is not going to win the league. They fluffed their lines last season. They were so close and they didn't win. So I think this season I don't see it's going to be any different. So you can talk about as likely as not in all of those type of situations. Predictions. Now the next and this is a little bit more neutral or informal there's a good chance that okay there's a good chance that I'll actually be able to to join you on on Saturday because Mary's away and the kids are with their grandparents so there's a good chance if all that falls into place I'll pop around and we can watch the match together. We can probably get a pizza and have a few beers yeah okay but I'll let you know for definite on Thursday. There's a good chance that I'm going to have to go away in two weeks time on that business trip. The order has come through and they need somebody to go over and explain it to them. So I'm probably have to go to jump on a plane and I'll be there for, I'd say, no more than two or three days. So there's a really good chance that that's what's going to happen. But it'll be confirmed before the weekend. So you're just making your business plans as to what might or might not happen and you're letting your partner know that he or she shouldn't expect you to be there for two or three days, probably during the week. So there's a good chance that. And again, something very similar, the chances are, so again, we're using that word chance, the chances are that that building across the road is going to go ahead. They've listened to all of the objections from the local residents, nothing has changed, so the chances are that they'll get the planning permission. So we just need to keep our eyes open and watch out for when the trucks start to move in and the bulldozers go in on the and that's when we'll really know. So the chances are that it'll get the green light, they'll get the go-ahead from the local government. I mean, we need more apartments here, there's a shortage, but it's going to be messy for two years when the trucks are going up and down the street and the dirt and lots and lots of more traffic. But yeah, that's progress, they say. We're just going to have to accept it. Suck it up, as they say. Suck it up. So the chances are that that building program is going to get the green light. Okay, so now the next couple, again, similar type of expressions, but again, talking about predictions. Seems inevitable. So it seems inevitable that the economy is going to go through a difficult situation. The signs are there. They're ominous, the signs. Yeah, so I've noticed in the supermarket recently, most of the products that we buy are a few cent or more than a few cent more expensive week on week. So it seems inevitable to me that that's what's going to happen. Okay, so when we say it seems inevitable, yeah, we're making a prediction that is more than likely to happen. Okay, it seems inevitable that he's going to drop out of college. The results have been terrible. He doesn't seem to have a lot of interest. He spends most of his time on those computer games. And one or two of his friends have changed course recently. So I think we better have a word with him and see what's going on. But it seems inevitable to me. So I think it would be better if we tried to persuade him to go on another course. If he's not enjoying this course, there's no point wasting his time, wasting our time. We'll just end up being very frustrated. So it seems inevitable to me that he's going to drop out. Is bound to. Okay, so this is in the middle of an expression. So for example, the weather is bound to improve next week. At this time of the year, usually we get some good weather. There'll be a little bit of rain, but it's bound to improve. I mean, it couldn't be as bad as it has been over the winter. So, so cold and lots of rain and those wind storms and hurricanes that we had. We don't want a repeat of that. So the weather is bound to improve. In fact, any increase in the temperature from here would be an improvement. Even if it goes up to nine or ten degrees, it's going to be something. So the weather is bound to improve. And as we get nearer to the end of the month, then we're going to get longer days and more light at the end of the evening. So yeah, I think our mood is bound to improve. So we get more light, less rain, better weather. Everybody's mood is bound to improve. Okay, so it's bound to means definitely you can't see any reason why it won't change and you can't see any reason why your predictions will not come true. It's bound to. Okay, and then the final one that we have, there's no doubt. Yeah, so when we use that expression, there's no doubt, well, we're really almost certain that something is or isn't going to happen. There's no doubt in my mind that that's the correct decision. There's no doubt in my mind that the company is going to close down and I'm sure in the next month or two, we'll be getting some announcement from head office and we all have to look for other jobs. There's no doubt that this is the correct way for the government to respond. You know, when there's inflation, they have to increase interest rates or indeed they're going to have to increase taxation to cover all of these costs. There's absolutely no doubt that that's what's going to happen. So when we use there's no doubt, it means that our predictions are almost 100% guaranteed to come true. Okay, there's no doubt. So let me go through those predictions or making predictions again. As I said, some of them are more formal than others, some of them are neutral, and you try to include them in your everyday conversations. There's no likelihood of snow this winter. It's unlikely that they'll ever get married. There's absolutely no way that the boss is going to agree to that salary demand. As likely as not, he'll cancel. He always does. There's a good chance that I'll be able to make it to the party after all. The chances are pretty slim. So we can say two hopes. No hope and the old comedian Bob Hope. There's no hope. So the chances are pretty slim. It seems inevitable that that's the way it's going to go. It seems inevitable. Yeah, the economy is bound to pick up. The weather is bound to improve. The team is bound to get better if they sign those new players. And then finally, yeah, there's no doubt that that's the way to do it. There's no doubt in my mind that that's what will happen. Okay, so when you want to make predictions, as I said, predicting the result of the football match, predicting the result of the general election, predicting the result of whether it's going to be a boy or girl, whatever you're making the predictions, you can use some of these expressions to help you. So make predictions in English. If you can try, practice them. If you don't understand them, come back to me and I'll give you some more examples and try to help you out. As always, I really appreciate you listening and watching. And as always, join me again soon.