Grammar: predictions
Pre-intermediate to upper intermediate level (A1-B2)

Michio Kaku is a well-known American physicist. He has just published a book called ‘The Future of the Mind’. In his book he writes about how people we will be able to record clear images of your thoughts and even your dreams!

Already scientists have been able to record some brain images. Watch this video to see reconstructions of a film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FsH7RK1S2E&feature=youtu.be

In the future Michio Kaku thinks we are going to be able to record our thoughts and dreams in detail and perhaps our personalities too for future generations. He also predicts that we might be able to give people a ‘memory boost’ if they need it. In addition he feels that will be able to help people learn quickly by giving them information directly to their brain.

Apparently there are plans at the World Cup in Brazil for a paralysed person to control an exoskeleton with their mind. The person will use their mind to kick a football. Mr Kaku says that the speed of development of technology and science is so rapid that we will be able to do amazing things in the near future. His predictions are very thought provoking!

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In the text above, there are different ways to talk about the future and make predictions:

‘Michio Kaku thinks we are going to be able’
‘He also predicts that we might be able’
‘we will be able to do amazing things’

‘be going to‘ is often used when we have strong reasons for our predictions because we have some evidence now or when we are able to see the clear development of something eg:

She is going to have a baby
He is going to get angry
The new electric car from Honda is going to be ready very soon

‘might‘ is usually used when we are not so sure about our predictions and we want to talk about possibilities eg:

They might come to the party
We might have a moon colony by 2060
Taking that medicine might be dangerous

‘will‘ is often used when we make a guess about the future (and is often used with ‘think’) or where ‘be going to’ or ‘might’ etc are not suitable eg:

We will discover different kinds of life in the universe
I don’t think the plan will work
There won’t be a need for books in the future