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It's about time I made a promise to myself that I'd go to the gym everyday.

It's about time I made a promise to myself that I'll go to the gym everyday.

Are both the above sentences grammatically correct? Do they mean the same?

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lekon chekon
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2 Answers2

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It's about time I made a promise to myself that I'd (I would) go to the gym everyday.

It's about time I made a promise to myself that I'll (I will) go to the gym everyday.

Both means the same thing, but "will" gives more weight and more preferable.

Would is the past form of will. But it is also used in conditional sentences, to express a choice, and to state a repeated action (Would + always/never).

Example:

If I were to be an animal, I would be a Great White Shark. (conditional)

I make a promise to myself right now that I would go to the gym everyday If she approves. (conditional)

I knew she would approve. (past of "will")

He would never/would always wash his hands before dinner. (repeated action)

"Will" or "Would"

"Everyday" vs "Every day"

More to read on "will" and "would" on EnglishPage

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Usernew
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First off, "everyday" is an adjective; it doesn't fit in the sentences presented. Instead, you should use "every day."

Second, you use the expressions "it's time/it's high time/it's about time + subject + past verb" form (subjunctive) to refer to the present moment. I think the right sentence should be:

It's about time I made a promise to myself to go to the gym every day.

But this sentence suggests that, though it's a bit late, it is appropriate time to do something.

You can also say the following if you think i's the right or appropriate time now to do something:

It's about/high time for me to make a promise to myself to go to the gym every day.

Khan
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    Interesting. In my language the construction it's about time + present verb works fine. I didn't know that worked different in English. – Schwale Dec 06 '15 at 15:51
  • @Ale Same here. Here is an example of the "it's about time + present verb" use, and here, too. You could have edited your answer instead of deleting it :P – Usernew Dec 06 '15 at 16:16
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    @Usernew and Ale: On written tests of English, such as the Cambridge tests, the expected verb form after phrases such as It's time, It's about time and It's high time is the simple past tense verb form. So it is best, imho, to teach learners this form. Of course, speakers of English may deviate from the norm. –  Dec 06 '15 at 16:23
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    For instance, see 1 it's time you...to bed, 2 It's time we ate not it's time we eat, 3 It's time I told you... –  Dec 06 '15 at 16:28
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    Note that there is misunderstanding, disagreement about whether to call this past tense verb form the subjunctive or hypothetical past indicative (which is something for grammarians to argue about), but the customary (standard) form is the past tense. However, language changes over time, and not everyone uses standard forms all the time, so it is not strange to see the present tense form in these constructions. But not on a test of standard English. –  Dec 06 '15 at 16:32
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    Ok, perhaps you should've added this interesting information to my answer before to have rated negative, which I deleted because I didn't want to get the learners confused. – Schwale Dec 06 '15 at 17:02
  • @Ale You'll find not only present forms (is) and past forms (was) used in English, but plain forms (be) as well. –  Dec 08 '15 at 06:51