Making a Promise in English - Practice

Dialogue

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Lesson Transcript

Do you know how to make a promise in English?

Welcome to Three Step English Practice by EnglishClass101.com. In this lesson, you will practice how to make a promise in English with both infinitive and future simple tense phrases.

Let’s look at the main dialogue.

Two people are having a conversation.

It’s a pity it didn’t work out yesterday. If you want a do-over, next Saturday I’m cooking dinner for some friends. Are you in?

I promise that I’ll make it this time! What do you want to make?

I haven’t made up my mind yet. Maybe chili and cornbread? My cornbread is really good, I have to say.

In this dialogue, this character

Says "I promise that I'll make it this time!"

She does this using the sentence structure of "I promise," plus "THAT," plus a future simple verb phrase. The future simple verb here is "will make."

However, there is also another way of promising to do something, which is "I promise," plus an infinitive verb phrase, like "TO GO to the store," or "TO PLAY some golf."

Let’s practice with this grammar more in this lesson.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

I promise

Come back soon.

I promise

Come back soon.

I promise to come back soon.

"To come back soon" is an infinitive verb phrase. Without "will," we can't make a future simple phrase.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

I promise

I'll teach you!

I promise

I'll teach you!

that

I promise that I'll teach you!

Since we have "I'll," I will, here, we can put "that" in the blank and form a future simple tense phrase.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

I promise

Remember a gift.

I promise

Remember a gift.

I promise to remember a gift.

Again, without "will," a future simple phrase cannot be formed. To is the only grammatically correct option here.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

I promise

I'll wash the dishes for a month.

I promise

I'll wash the dishes for a month.

that

I promise that I'll wash the dishes for a month.

Neither a future simple tense phrase nor an infinitive phrase can be formed with "I promise to I will…," so we have to use "that" and make it future simple tense.

Unscramble the words to make a sentence.

I promise

I promise that

I promise that I'll

I promise that I'll study.

Unscramble the words to make a sentence.

I promise

I promise to

I promise to study

I promise to study very

I promise to study very hard.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

I promise (to or that) win the contest.

answer

I promise to win the contest.

"To" is used here because together with "win," it forms an infinitive phrase.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

I promise (to or that) he will become famous.

that

I promise that he will become famous.

"that" is used here because together with "he will," which could be contracted to "he'll," it forms a future simple tense phrase.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

I promise (to or that) check the numbers again.

I promise to check the numbers again.

"To" is used here because there is no "pronoun plus will" afterwards that could form a simple future tense phrase with "that."

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

I promise (to or that) we'll go far.

that

I promise that we'll go far.

"That" is used here because in combination with "we will," it forms a future simple tense phrase.

Listen to what I say.

Which kind of verb phrase is each sentence using?

I promise that I'll teach you!

Listen one more time.

I promise that I'll teach you!

Did you hear, "I'll teach"? "I will teach" is in the future simple tense.

How about...?

I promise that I'll study.

Let’s listen one more time.

I promise that I'll study.

Did you hear "I will study"? "I will study" is also in the future simple tense.

Next...

I promise to check the numbers again.

One more time.

I promise to check the numbers again.

Did you hear to check? To check is an infinitive verb.

Next...

I promise that I'll wash the dishes for a month.

One more time.

I promise that I'll wash the dishes for a month.

Did you hear "I'll wash"? "I will wash" is in the future simple tense.

And...

I promise to study very hard.

One more time.

I promise to study very hard.

Did you hear "to study"? "To study" is an infinitive verb.

Thank you for watching.

Now you know how to make a promise in English with both infinitive and future simple tense phrases.

...and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway on EnglishClass101.com.

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