VOA日常语法2023--Grammar and Uncertainty

Grammar and Uncertainty¹

Consider an unusual time in your life. Perhaps your country was having a financial crisis² or a political crisis. Perhaps one of your family members became sick. In other words, you were facing an uncertain situation.

How do you talk about such situations?

That question will be the subject of today's Everyday Grammar. You will learn about questions and answers. You will also learn about verbs and expressions used to express uncertainty.

Let's start with some important terms and ideas.

Questions about uncertain times

Uncertainty means that something is doubtful or unknown. And, as the saying goes, life is full of uncertainties³.

We often ask friends, family, coworkers, or even strangers about their thoughts and expectations during uncertain times.

There are two closely related questions we use in such situations. One involves "will" and the other involves "be going to." Although the questions have different wording, their meaning is the same. So, we have:

What do you think will happen?

What do you think is going to happen?

The structures of these questions are complex. We have the question word "what," the helping⁴ verb "do," the subject "you," the verb "think," and then the future marker – either "will" or "be going to" along with "happen."

We can also make our questions more exact by adding a noun or noun phrase after the word "to" near the end of the question.

So, you might ask:

What do you think will happen to______________?

What do you think is going to happen to _________________?

If your country has an uncertain financial situation, you might ask one of the following questions:

What will happen to the economy?

What is going to happen to the economy?

If your brother becomes sick, you might ask a doctor one of these questions:

What will happen to my brother?

What is going to happen to my brother?

These questions are open-ended. In other words, you are asking the person to give an answer that includes a lot of information.

Answers about uncertainty

We have explored questions about uncertainty. But how do we give answers? Answers could involve expressions, some specific verbs and adverbs, as well as phrasal verbs.

In terms of expressions, a person might say:

I don't know.

I have no clue.

Verbs that we might use include hope, think, or doubt. Listen to these sentences.

I hope the economy turns around quickly.

I think the political disagreement will be solved quickly.

I doubt the economy will continue to fall apart.

And in the case of adverbs, we might use likely or unlikely, as in the flowing sentences:

It is likely that the economy will crash.

It is unlikely that the economy will crash.

With phrasal verbs, we might use "look like" - meaning to seem to be something because of appearances.

So, you might hear a person say:

It looks like the government is going to shut down.

It looks like that politician is going to win the election.

In the examples, "look like" suggests that the speaker has formed an idea about the situation. When you say, "It looks like something is going to happen," you are saying that you think something is likely to happen, even if the situation is uncertain.

Closing thoughts

The next time you read the news or watch a movie, pay careful attention to how speakers talk about uncertainty. Do the speakers use some of the terms and ideas we explored today? Or do they use different terms?

With time, you will notice that uncertainty – and discussions about uncertainty – make up a large part of our lives.

Words in This Story

specific – adj. special or particular

phrasal verb – n. a group of words that functions as a verb and is made up of a verb and another short word

1 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

2 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

3 uncertainties   

无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 )； 不确定； 变化不定； 无把握、不确定的事物

参考例句：

• One of the uncertainties of military duty is that you never know when you might suddenly get posted away. 任军职不稳定的因素之一是你永远不知道什么时候会突然被派往它处。
• Uncertainties affecting peace and development are on the rise. 影响和平与发展的不确定因素在增加。 来自汉英非文学 - 十六大报告

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。