Den umiddelbare fremtid

Form

Når vi taler om den umiddelbare fremtid, kan vi bruge et mønster bestående af tre elementer:
udsagnsordet "to be" bøjet i nutid + about + hovedudsagnsordet i navnemåde

Test din viden

Grundled	+ to be	+ about (eller just about)	+ navnemåde
I	am	about	to be sick
They	are	about	to arrive.
It	is	just about	to explode.

To leave, i den umiddelbare fremtid

Bekræftende	Nægtende	Spørgende	Nægtende spørgende
I am about to leave.	I am not about to leave.	Am I about to leave?	Am I not about to leave?
You are about to leave.	You are not about to leave.	Are you about to leave?	Aren't you about to leave?
He is about to leave.	He is not about to leave.	Is he about to leave?	Isn't he about to leave?
We are about to leave.	We aren't about to leave.	Are we about to leave?	Aren't we about to leave?
They are about to leave.	They aren't about to leave.	Are they about to leave?	Aren't they about to leave?

Funktion

Dette mønster bruges til at henvise til en tid i den umiddelbare fremtid efter det tidspunkt, hvor vi taler, og understreger, at begivenheden eller handlingen vil finde sted meget snar. Vi tilføjer ofte ordet just før ordet about, som understreger handlingens umiddelbarhed.

Eksempler

She is about to cry.
You are about to see something very unusual.
I am about to go to a meeting.
We are just about to go inside.
Sally is just about to jump off that diving board.

Dette mønster kan også bruges med præteritum (simple past) af to be i stedet for nutid til at henvise til en handling, der var nært forestående, men som blev afbrudt. Dette mønster bliver ofte efterfulgt af en sætning indledt af when.