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-   -   will be / is (http://www.eslhq.com/forums/esl-forums/english-questions/will-49663/)

wendy3 Jun 26th, 2012 09:10 pm

will be / is
 
A candidate in an election says:

"it is an honour to be elected"

of course the present tense can be used to talk about future:

eg the train departs at 7:00 am

but I think the red sentence is wrong, because the person is a candidate, not one who has been elected, so it should be rewritten as:

"it will be an honour to be elected."

what do you think?

susan53 Jun 27th, 2012 05:23 am

Re: will be / is
 
Depends on the context - s/he could be talking in general, in which case the first form verb, expressing a permanent fact would be appropriate : It is an honour (for any candidate for this post) to be elected (at any time).

However, if the candidate is definitely talking about their own election - yes, it's a prediction, not a fact and the first form verb makes no sense. If they were very arrogant, then will : It will be an honour for me to be elected - arrogant because the use of will presumes the occurrence of the action. To be more modest, they would need to use would : It would be an honour for me to be elected. would is the second form of will and therefore adds hypotheticality to the prediction.

wendy3 Jun 27th, 2012 08:35 pm

Re: will be / is
 
mmmm agree agree

thank you~~


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