Grammar › Future Simple with will
Will: wh-questions
450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten
Question word, then will, then the subject, then the plain verb.
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Getting your first question ready.
The usual order
Four slots: question word — will — subject — plain verb.
How long will the repairs take?
When who is the subject
Nothing swaps, because there is no other subject:
- Who will drive?
- What will happen next?
Compare Who will you invite? — there you does the inviting, so the ordinary order returns.
Indirect questions
Once the question sits inside another sentence, the swap disappears:
- direct: When will she arrive?
- indirect: Do you know when she will arrive?
Keeping the question order inside — Do you know when will she arrive — is one of the commonest errors at this level.
How long will it take
The standard question about duration. The answer takes about or a plain length: About twenty minutes.
Note the difference from How long have you been waiting?, which asks about time already spent.
All forms
| Question word | Example | Asking about |
|---|---|---|
| What | What will you do? | the action |
| Where | Where will they stay? | the place |
| When | When will she arrive? | the time |
| Why | Why will it cost more? | the reason |
| How | How will we get there? | the way |
| How long | How long will it take? | the duration |
| Who | Who will pay? | the person — see below |
Examples
Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.
- When will you go to the store?
- Where will we go during the summer vacation next year?
- Where will they go for the summer vacation next year?
- How many people will we have to attend the conference?
- Why will she go to the store later?
- Why will they come to the party?
- Why will he buy flowers for her birthday next month?
- Why will he go to the concert next week?
- Where will they hold the next meeting?
- What will you do in the summer holidays?
- When will he come here for dinner?
- Who will he give the keys to?
Mistakes to avoid
Wrong: When you will arrive? correct: When will you arrive?
Will goes before the subject.
Wrong: Who will he open the shop? correct: Who will open the shop?
When who does the action, there is no second subject.
Wrong: I don't know when will he come. correct: I don't know when he will come.
Inside a longer sentence the question order disappears and normal order returns.