0

I understand 'will" can be used for uncertain future. My question is if "be to" is better than 'will' for projections or they are equally good?

Italy will/is to continue to have an older population than Yemen.

(I wrote the sentence)

enter image description here

newbie forever
  • 1,165
  • 3
  • 10
  • You've misunderstood the situation where the phone rings, and someone says "That will be* John. He said he'd call this afternoon". Which isn't really* an "uncertain future", even though the usage is often defined as meaning something like "If* I answer the phone I will probably discover that it really is John". In reality, the usage is nothing to do with uncertainty - if I say "That will be John", what I mean is "I am quite sure that is John"*. – FumbleFingers Jan 17 '24 at 14:54

1 Answers1

1

I understand 'will" can be used for uncertain future.

Not unless you qualify it further. If you say something will happen, that indicates certainty.

If something is a projection, based on past data, then you could say something like:

Italy will likely continue to have an older population than Yemen.

'Likely' indicates the strong possibility. As a data analyst myself, I would not make such a statement without evidence, and past numbers alone are not enough to do so. To say assertively that a country will continue to have an older population would likely need you to have considered other data to conclude that the trend is likely to continue as it has in the past.

Your alternative "is to" just means the same thing without further qualifying it as a probability or likelihood. There are lots of ways of expressing a projection, including:

  • will likely...
  • is likely to...
  • looks likely to...
  • looks set to...
Astralbee
  • 100,700
  • 2
  • 111
  • 222
  • Thanks for your answer. In this question about a planed development, most people say 'will' can be used for uncertain future. Are projections different from planned development when it comes to the use of 'will'? Or is the use of 'will' different for data analysts? https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/327143/can-we-use-will-to-describe-future-plans – newbie forever Jan 17 '24 at 12:46
  • Is to is used of planned events, not predictions. "The country is to hold a general election", "The Prime Minister is to meet with the President of France" and the like. – Kate Bunting Jan 17 '24 at 13:51
  • @newbieforever yes, that linked question is different. Plans are not predictions. You make plans happen; you predict things that might happen. – Astralbee Jan 17 '24 at 16:46