Will vs. Will be: Know the Difference
By Shumaila Saeed || Published on February 21, 2024
"Will" expresses determination, intention, or future action; "will be" specifically indicates a future state or condition.
Key Differences
"Will" is a modal verb used to express future actions, decisions, or promises, while "will be" is a specific form used to denote a future state or ongoing condition. For example, "will" can indicate a decision made at the moment of speaking, whereas "will be" often describes a future state that is certain.
Shumaila Saeed
Feb 21, 2024
The usage of "will" is versatile, covering predictions, offers, and spontaneous decisions. "Will be," however, is more specific, often used to talk about future events that are seen as inevitable. While "will" might express a future action, like "I will call you," "will be" indicates a future state, like "I will be there."
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Feb 21, 2024
In questions, "will" can seek information or make requests about the future, while "will be" asks specifically about future states or conditions. "Will you help me?" implies a request for future action, while "Will you be at the party?" inquires about someone's future presence.
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Feb 21, 2024
When combined with other words, "will" can express conditional situations or promises. "Will be," however, remains focused on future states or locations. "If it rains, we will cancel the event" is conditional, whereas "The event will be held indoors if it rains" specifies a future situation.
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Feb 21, 2024
"Will" and "will be" also differ in their grammatical structure when used in sentences. "Will" is followed by a base verb, indicating an action. "Will be" is followed by a noun, adjective, or present participle, focusing on state or being, like in "Tomorrow will be sunny."
Shumaila Saeed
Feb 21, 2024
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Comparison Chart
Function
Expresses future action or intention
Indicates future state or condition
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Feb 21, 2024
Example Structure
Will + base verb (action)
Will be + noun/adjective/participle
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Feb 21, 2024
Question Form
Inquiries about future actions
Asks about future states or presence
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Feb 21, 2024
Conditional Use
In conditional sentences
Describing inevitable future states
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Feb 21, 2024
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Will and Will be Definitions
Will be
Expresses inevitable future situations.
The roads will be busy tomorrow.
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Jan 19, 2024
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Will
The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action
Championed freedom of will against a doctrine of predetermination.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
Diligent purposefulness; determination
An athlete with the will to win.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will be
Forms questions about future conditions.
Will you be joining us for dinner?
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Jan 19, 2024
Will
Self-control; self-discipline
Lacked the will to overcome the addiction.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
A desire, purpose, or determination, especially of one in authority
It is the sovereign's will that the prisoner be spared.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
Deliberate intention or wish
Let it be known that I took this course of action against my will.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
Free discretion; inclination or pleasure
Wandered about, guided only by will.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
A legal declaration of how a person wishes their personal possessions to be disposed of after death.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To yearn for; desire
“She makes you will your own destruction” (George Bernard Shaw).
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To decree, dictate, or order
Believed that the outcome was willed by the gods.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To induce or try to induce by sheer force of will
We willed the sun to come out.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To order to direct in a legal will
She willed that her money be given to charity.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To wish; desire
Do what you will. Sit here if you will. See Usage Note at shall.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
(auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, sometimes with some implication of volition when used in the first person. Compare shall.
One of our salesmen will visit you tomorrow.
I will pass this exam.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
(auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to.
Unfortunately, only one of these gloves will actually fit over my hand.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
(auxiliary) Expressing a present tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".
He will be home by now. He always gets home before 6 o'clock.
I can't find my umbrella. I will have forgotten it home this morning.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
(auxiliary) To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations (+ bare infinitive), often in questions and negation.
Will you marry me?
I’ve told him three times, but he won’t take his medicine.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
(transitive) To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document).
He willed his stamp collection to the local museum.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
(transitive) To exert one's force of will (intention) in order to compel, or attempt to compel, something to happen or someone to do something.
All the fans were willing their team to win the game.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.
Of course, man's will is often regulated by his reason.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.
Most creatures have a will to live.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.
Eventually I submitted to my parents' will.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
(law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
(archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)
He felt a great will to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
The power of choosing; the faculty or endowment of the soul by which it is capable of choosing; the faculty or power of the mind by which we decide to do or not to do; the power or faculty of preferring or selecting one of two or more objects.
It is necessary to form a distinct notion of what is meant by the word "volition" in order to understand the import of the word will, for this last word expresses the power of mind of which "volition" is the act.
Will is an ambiguous word, being sometimes put for the faculty of willing; sometimes for the act of that faculty, besides [having] other meanings. But "volition" always signifies the act of willing, and nothing else.
Appetite is the will's solicitor, and the will is appetite's controller; what we covet according to the one, by the other we often reject.
The will is plainly that by which the mind chooses anything.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
The choice which is made; a determination or preference which results from the act or exercise of the power of choice; a volition.
The word "will," however, is not always used in this its proper acceptation, but is frequently substituted for "volition", as when I say that my hand mover in obedience to my will.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
The choice or determination of one who has authority; a decree; a command; discretionary pleasure.
Thy will be done.
Our prayers should be according to the will of God.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
Strong wish or inclination; desire; purpose.
My poverty, but not my will, consents; . . . Put this in any liquid thing you will,And drink it off.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
That which is strongly wished or desired.
What's your will, good friar?
The mariner hath his will.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
Arbitrary disposal; power to control, dispose, or determine.
Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
The legal declaration of a person's mind as to the manner in which he would have his property or estate disposed of after his death; the written instrument, legally executed, by which a man makes disposition of his estate, to take effect after his death; testament; devise. See the Note under Testament, 1.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To wish; to desire; to incline to have.
A wife as of herself no thing ne sholde [should]Wille in effect, but as her husband wolde [would].
Caleb said unto her, What will thou ?
They would none of my counsel.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
As an auxiliary, will is used to denote futurity dependent on the verb. Thus, in first person, "I will" denotes willingness, consent, promise; and when "will" is emphasized, it denotes determination or fixed purpose; as, I will go if you wish; I will go at all hazards. In the second and third persons, the idea of distinct volition, wish, or purpose is evanescent, and simple certainty is appropriately expressed; as, "You will go," or "He will go," describes a future event as a fact only. To emphasize will denotes (according to the tone or context) certain futurity or fixed determination.
I am able to devote as much time and attention to other subjects as I will [shall] be under the necessity of doing next winter.
A countryman, telling us what he had seen, remarked that if the conflagration went on, as it was doing, we would [should] have, as our next season's employment, the Old Town of Edinburgh to rebuild.
I feel assured that I will [shall] not have the misfortune to find conflicting views held by one so enlightened as your excellency.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To be willing; to be inclined or disposed; to be pleased; to wish; to desire.
And behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus . . . touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To form a distinct volition of; to determine by an act of choice; to ordain; to decree.
By all law and reason, that which the Parliament will not, is no more established in this kingdom.
Two things he [God] willeth, that we should be good, and that we should be happy.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To enjoin or command, as that which is determined by an act of volition; to direct; to order.
They willed me say so, madam.
Send for music,And will the cooks to use their best of cunningTo please the palate.
As you go, will the lord mayor . . . To attend our further pleasure presently.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To give or direct the disposal of by testament; to bequeath; to devise; as, to will one's estate to a child; also, to order or direct by testament; as, he willed that his nephew should have his watch.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
To exercise an act of volition; to choose; to decide; to determine; to decree.
At Winchester he lies, so himself willed.
He that shall turn his thoughts inward upon what passes in his own mind when he wills.
I contend for liberty as it signifies a power in man to do as he wills or pleases.
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
The capability of conscious choice and decision and intention;
The exercise of their volition we construe as revolt
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
A fixed and persistent intent or purpose;
Where there's a will there's a way
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
A legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the disposal of their property when they die
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Jan 15, 2024
Will
Leave or give by will after one's death;
My aunt bequeathed me all her jewelry
My grandfather left me his entire estate
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Jan 15, 2024
Repeatedly Asked Queries
Is 'will' used for spontaneous decisions?
Yes, especially for decisions made at the moment of speaking.
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Feb 21, 2024
Does 'will be' always refer to location?
Not always, it can also refer to states or conditions.
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Feb 21, 2024
How does 'will' form questions?
By preceding the subject, as in "Will you...?"
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Feb 21, 2024
Can 'will be' describe ongoing actions?
Yes, in the context of future continuous actions.
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Feb 21, 2024
How do 'will' and 'will be' differ in requests?
'Will' is more common in requests, while 'will be' is less so.
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Feb 21, 2024
Is 'will be' used for predictions?
Yes, particularly for inevitable or likely events.
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Feb 21, 2024
Is 'will be' used in conditional sentences?
Rarely, it's more for certain future states.
Shumaila Saeed
Feb 21, 2024
Does 'will be' require a specific verb form after it?
It's followed by a noun, adjective, or present participle.
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Feb 21, 2024
Can 'will' be used for habits?
No, 'will' is not typically used for habitual actions.
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Feb 21, 2024
How is 'will' used in negative sentences?
By adding 'not', as in "will not" or "won't."
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Feb 21, 2024
Is 'will' formal or informal?
It's neutral and used in both formal and informal contexts.
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Feb 21, 2024
Can 'will be' imply certainty?
Yes, it often implies something is certain to happen.
Shumaila Saeed
Feb 21, 2024
Is 'will' used in legal documents?
Yes, frequently for expressing intentions and promises.
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Feb 21, 2024
Does 'will be' suggest a passive voice?
Not necessarily, it depends on the context and sentence structure.
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Feb 21, 2024
Can 'will be' indicate a temporary state?
Yes, it can indicate both temporary and permanent states.
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Feb 21, 2024
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About Author
Written by
Shumaila SaeedShumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.
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