WILL


Meaning of WILL in English

I. MODAL VERB USES

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

Note: 'Will' is a modal verb. It is used with the base form of a verb. In spoken English and informal written English, the form 'won’t' is often used in negative statements.

1.

You use ~ to indicate that you hope, think, or have evidence that something is going to happen or be the case in the future.

You ~ find a wide variety of choices available in school cafeterias...

Representatives from across the horse industry ~ attend the meeting...

70 per cent of airports in the Far East ~ have to be upgraded...

Will you ever feel at home here?...

The ship ~ not be ready for a month.

MODAL

2.

You use ~ in order to make statements about official arrangements in the future.

The show ~ be open to the public at 2pm; admission ~ be 50p...

When ~ I be released, sir?

MODAL

3.

You use ~ in order to make promises and threats about what is going to happen or be the case in the future.

I’ll call you tonight...

Price quotes on selected product categories ~ be sent on request...

If she refuses to follow rules about car safety, she won’t be allowed to use the car.

MODAL

4.

You use ~ to indicate someone’s intention to do something.

I ~ say no more on these matters, important though they are...

In this section we ~ describe common myths about cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana...

‘Dinner’s ready.’—‘Thanks, Carrie, but we’ll have a drink first.’...

What ~ you do next?...

Will you be remaining in the city?

MODAL

5.

You use ~ in questions in order to make polite invitations or offers.

Will you stay for supper?...

Will you join me for a drink?...

Won’t you sit down?

MODAL politeness

6.

You use ~ in questions in order to ask or tell someone to do something.

Will you drive me home?...

Wipe the jam off my mouth, ~ you?

= would

MODAL

7.

You can use ~ in statements to give an order to someone. (FORMAL)

You ~ now maintain radio silence...

You ~ not discuss this matter with anyone.

MODAL

8.

You use ~ to say that someone is ~ing to do something. You use ~ not or won’t to indicate that someone refuses to do something.

All right, I’ll forgive you...

He has insisted that his organisation ~ not negotiate with the government.

MODAL

see also ~ing

9.

You use ~ to say that a person or thing is able to do something in the future.

How the country ~ defend itself in the future has become increasingly important...

How ~ I recognize you?

MODAL

10.

You use ~ to indicate that an action usually happens in the particular way mentioned.

The thicker the material, the less susceptible the garment ~ be to wet conditions...

There’s no snake known that ~ habitually attack human beings unless threatened with its life...

MODAL

11.

You use ~ in the main clause of some ‘if’ and ‘unless’ sentences to indicate something that you consider to be fairly likely to happen.

If you overcook the pancakes they ~ be difficult to roll...

MODAL

12.

You use ~ to say that someone insists on behaving or doing something in a particular way and you cannot change them. You emphasize ~ when you use it in this way.

He ~ leave his socks lying all over the place and it drives me mad.

MODAL

13.

You use ~ have with a past participle when you are saying that you are fairly certain that something ~ be true by a particular time in the future.

As many as ten-million children ~ have been infected with the virus by the end of the decade...

MODAL

14.

You use ~ have with a past participle to indicate that you are fairly sure that something is the case.

The holiday ~ have done him the world of good.

MODAL

II. WANTING SOMETHING TO HAPPEN

(~s, ~ing, ~ed)

Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.

1.

Will is the determination to do something.

He was said to have lost his ~ to live.

...the inevitable battle of ~s as your child realises that he can’t do or have everything he wants...

N-VAR: oft N to-inf

see also free ~

2.

If something is the ~ of a person or group of people with authority, they want it to happen.

Democracy responds and adjusts to the ~ of the people...

N-SING: with poss

3.

If you ~ something to happen, you try to make it happen by using mental effort rather than physical effort.

I looked at the telephone, ~ing it to ring...

VERB: V n to-inf

4.

A ~ is a document in which you declare what you want to happen to your money and property when you die.

Attached to his ~ was a letter he had written to his wife just days before his death.

N-COUNT

5.

If something is done against your ~, it is done even though you do not want it to be done.

No doubt he was forced to leave his family against his ~.

PHRASE: PHR after v

6.

If you can do something at ~, you can do it when you want and as much as you want.

...scientists who can adjust their experiments at ~.

PHRASE: PHR after v

Collins COBUILD.      Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) .