Grammar lesson 22: Future tenses - Ecological disaster

Level: Intermediate / B1

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Put the verbs in brackets into the correct future form:

Professor Robert Tawnley, Institute of Ecological Research:

‘‘I’m not too optimistic about the future. My main worry is the greenhouse effect.

The Earth is heating up and at current rates the sea level (1) will have risen (rise) by about 20 centimetres by the end of the 21^st century.

It might not seem like much but it (2)                              (have) devastating effects.

Large parts of the Indian sub-continent (3)                                              (be) under water during the monsoon season – an area that already suffers from famine.

We have an observation centre in Antarctica and we (4)                                                             (watch) the ice-caps carefully over the next decade.

From what I have seen so far it’s clear that the ice (5)                                                                (continue) to melt at an accelerating rate in the future.

And the destruction of the rain forests doesn’t help. By 2035 over 95 % of the rainforest in South East Asia (6)                                                                 (lose)

I (7)                                               (fly) out to Brazil next month to chair a conference on this very subject and we (8)                                                                         (discuss) the loss of the natural habitat in the Amazon region.

If we want the Earth to survive we (9)                                         (do) something about it soon.’’

Answers below!

‘‘I’m not too optimistic about the future. My main worry is the greenhouse effect.

The Earth is heating up and at current rates the sea level (1) will have risen (rise) by about 20 centimetres by the end of the 21^st century.

It might not seem like much but it (2)     will have          (have) devastating effects.

Large parts of the Indian sub-continent (3)         will be             (be) under water during the monsoon season – an area that already suffers from famine.

We have an observation centre in Antarctica and we (4)            will be watching          (watch) the ice-caps carefully over the next decade.

From what I have seen so far it’s clear that the ice (5)   will continue                (continue) to melt at an accelerating rate in the future.

And the destruction of the rain forests doesn’t help. By 2035 over 95 % of the rainforest in South East Asia (6)    will be lost / will have been lost                      (lose)

I (7)          am flying                     (fly) out to Brazil next month to chair a conference on this very subject and we (8)            will discuss / will be discussing          (discuss) the loss of the natural habitat in the Amazon region.

If we want the Earth to survive we (9)    (will) have to do          (do) something about it soon.’’