English Language and Linguistics 14.2: 271–291.


C Cambridge University Press 2010

doi:10.1017/S1360674310000080

Future time reference expressed by be to in Present-day English1

R E NA AT D E C L E R C K
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
(Received 11 March 2008; revised 1 February 2010)

This article argues that be to is primarily a modal auxiliary expressing the necessity of
future actualization of the ‘residue-situation’ (= the situation referred to by the clause
minus be to). Eight possible ‘M-origins’ (= origins of the necessity) are identified. The
‘futurish’ use of be to in present-day English is closely related to these modal uses,
especially to the use in which the M-origin is an official arrangement.
The modal interpretation shifts to a futurish interpretation when the emphasis shifts from
the present existence of the necessity to the future actualization of the residue-situation.
This shift of emphasis is accompanied by a loss of doubt about this future actualization.
In other words, the futurish reading comes to the fore when the (strong or weak) origin of
the necessity is bleached, so that the hearer’s attention is directed to the future actualization
of the residue-situation. Various cases of such bleaching are treated. In some cases (e.g.
when be to collocates with still or yet, as in He is still to keep the first of his promises),
the bleaching of the M-origin is complete, so that only the sense of futurity (and hence of
‘not-yet-factuality’) is left. In some examples there is no clear difference between be to
and will any more, so that the two are interchangeable within the same sentence.

1 Introduction
The purpose of this article is to discuss the use of be to as an auxiliary in verb forms
that are interpreted as referring to the future, as in I am to clean my room. This is
a corpus-based study in which conclusions are drawn from an analysis of about two
thousand authentic examples, most of which come from the Cobuild corpus (University
of Birmingham).
It follows that this is a purely synchronic study. For an excellent diachronic treatment
I refer the reader to Visser (1970), who traces back a number of structures with be to
to their Old English origin. See also Nesselhauf (this issue).
I have not found any monographs or articles dealing specifically with the synchronic
use of be to with future time reference. English grammars mostly restrict themselves
to the statement that be to can be used as a kind of future tense auxiliary with the
connotation of ‘arrangement’, especially ‘official arrangement’ (e.g. The guests are to
arrive soon, The Queen is to visit Zimbabwe in June). They usually distinguish this use
of be to from its modal uses to express an order or prohibition and some other ideas

1 I wish to thank Susan Reed and Caroline Gevaert for the great preparatory work they have done. They have
collected, screened and interpreted a large number of corpus examples. If my interpretations, which sometimes
differ from theirs, are mistaken I am the only one to blame for these mistakes. Thanks are also due to the referees
who commented on the first draft of this article.
272 R E N A AT D E C L E R C K

that can be subsumed under the heading of ‘necessity’, such as ‘destiny’ (e.g. He left
twenty years ago and I was never to see him again).
Distinguishing between a temporal use of be to and modal uses is in keeping with
Visser’s (1970: §368) claim that in Old English there were two main uses of ‘be to +
infinitive’, viz. the ‘futurity’ use corresponding to Latin ‘esse + future participle’ (e.g.
ic eom to rædenne boc = lecturus sum librum = ‘I am to read the book’) and a use as
an expression of ‘obligation, duty or necessity’ corresponding to Latin ‘esse + gerund’
(e.g. me is to erigeanne = arandum est mihi = ‘I am to plough’). A sentence like He
is to leave at 6 o’clock is said to correspond to the former use, while You are to go
there at once is said to correspond to the latter. However, from a synchronic point of
view, it is difficult to distinguish between these uses. He is to leave at 6 o’clock clearly
implies that there is something (such as an arrangement) that necessitates ‘his’ leaving.
So, the only difference between the two sentences seems to be the factor determining
(= making necessary) the future actualization of the infinitive clause situation, viz. an
arrangement (in He is to leave at 6 o’clock) versus an order (in You are to go there
at once). Both these factors represent some kind of ‘necessity’. From a synchronic
point of view it therefore seems best to treat be to as an essentially modal auxiliary,2
expressing the necessity of the future actualization of the situation denoted by the main
verb. As we will see, the difference between be to and other auxiliaries expressing
necessity (like must or have to) is to be found in the nature of the necessitating factor.
I can close off this introduction by pointing out that Nesselhauf (2006: 517) has
found that ‘be to steadily decreases from 1700 to 1990, while be going to steadily
increases’. However, there are thousands of examples with be to in the Cobuild corpus,
which means that the auxiliary is still far from moribund.

2 Terminological preliminaries

2.1 The semantics of tenses: temporal domains

In Declerck et al. (2006a) I argue that the semantics of a tense is the structure of
temporal relations expressed by the tense in question. These relations hold between
the situation time that is to be located in time by the tense and one or more orientation
times. The tense structure may specify a relation between the situation time and t0
(= the ‘TEMPORAL ZERO-POINT’, which is nearly always the time of speech). Such tenses
are ‘ABSOLUTE’ tenses. An absolute tense form creates a ‘TEMPORAL DOMAIN’, i.e. a set of
times which are temporally related to each other by means of tenses. (When there is no
tense form besides the absolute one, the domain contains only one situation time, which
means that the set is a singleton. This is the case, for example, in John left yesterday.)

2 From a morphosyntactic point of view be to is arguably a ‘semi-auxiliary’ or ‘quasi-auxiliary’ (like have to)
rather than an auxiliary. However, since I will be concerned with its interpretations only, I will call it an
‘auxiliary’ for convenience. See also section 3 below.
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Tenses can also express a temporal relation between the situation time and an
orientation time other than t0 . These are ‘RELATIVE’ tenses. They do not establish a
temporal domain but expand one. For example, in Bill said that Jane had left, the
absolute tense form said represents its situation time as past relative to t0 and in
doing so establishes a past domain, while the relative tense form had left represents
its situation time as anterior to the situation time of said and in doing so expands the
domain established by said. Although a relative tense does not relate a situation time
directly to t0 , its tense structure does reveal the nature of the temporal domain in which
the situation time is located: the use of the past perfect form had left presupposes the
existence of a past domain. The nature of the temporal domain (past or future, for
example) is determined by how the absolute tense form establishing the domain locates
its situation time relative to t0 .
In sum, a temporal domain is a set of times which are temporally related to each
other by means of tenses. At least one of these times is a situation time, since any tense
form locates a situation in time. A domain is normally established by an absolute tense
form and expanded by one or more relative tense forms. For example:
(1) John said he felt exhausted because he had worked hard and that he would have a rest
first.

Here all the tenses locate their situation times in the same past domain. This is
established by the preterit form said, which is an absolute tense form. The other
tense forms are relative tense forms: felt [exhausted] represents its situation time as
simultaneous with the situation time of said; had worked represents its situation time
as anterior to the situation time of was [exhausted], and would have [a rest] relates its
situation time as posterior to the situation time of said. (For more details, see Declerck
et al. 2006a: 154–5.)

2.2 Future tense forms vs ‘futurish’ tense forms

The future tense (‘will/shall + infinitive’) can be used as an absolute tense, to locate
a situation time posterior to t0 and in doing so establish a ‘POST-PRESENT’ (= future
with respect to t0 ) domain. It can also be used to express posteriority in a post-present
domain. For example, in If you ask him about next week’s meeting he will say that he will
attend it, the absolute tense form will say establishes a post-present domain, whereas
will attend indicates a temporal relation in that domain: it represents the attending as
posterior to the saying.
For some time it has been a commonplace in mainstream linguistics to reject the
existence of a ‘future tense’ in English (see e.g. Huddleston & Pullum et al. 2002:
208–10). For most people, the future ‘is not a tense at all, but a mode’ (Cygan 1972: 9).
In Declerck (1991a: 8–13; Declerck et al. 2006a: 102–6) I offer substantial evidence
against this claim and argue that the future tense is a genuine tense in English. This
is not to say that there is nothing modal about it. Whenever there is reference to the
post-present, there is an aspect of modal meaning because the situation referred to is
274 R E N A AT D E C L E R C K

‘NOT-YET-FACTUAL’ at t0 . ‘Not-yet-factual at a given time’ is an epistemic modal notion –

see Declerck et al. (2006a: 102–3; Declerck 2006b: 57–70; 2009).
Apart from the future tense (‘will/shall + infinitive’), which (from a temporal point
of view) does no more than locate a situation time in the post-present and which
therefore has ‘single time reference’ (i.e. future time reference only), there are also
verbal expressions which effect ‘DUAL TIME REFERENCE’, viz. a combination of post-
present time reference and present time reference. Such expressions are referred to
as ‘FUTURISH’ tense forms in Declerck et al. (2006a). These forms link the future
actualization of a situation to a particular kind of present state. For example:
(2) [I have bought a computer because] I am going to write a novel. (= ‘I have the present
intention of writing a novel in the future.’)
(3) [Look at those clouds!] There is going to be a storm in a minute. (= ‘There are signs
in the present that there will be a storm soon.’)
(4) I’m leaving in a minute. (= ‘There is a present plan or arrangement for me to leave
in a minute.’)
(5) [Look at her!] She is about to faint. (= ‘You can see now that she will faint in the
very near future.’)
(6) The Queen is to leave for Canada tomorrow. (= ‘There is an official arrangement for
the Queen to leave for Canada tomorrow.’)

In the last three examples, the forms am leaving, is about to faint and is to leave will
not be treated as lexical realizations of the future tense. However, they are ‘futurish’
tense forms because they clearly locate the situation of leaving or fainting in the future
(and in doing so establish a post-present temporal domain).
The observation that futurish forms link the future actualization of a situation to a
present state and therefore have ‘dual time reference’ does not mean that they refer to
two different situations (one present, the other future). Only lexical verbs can denote
situations. All the futurish forms contain only one lexical verb, which refers to the
situation that is located in the post-present. In this respect a sentence like I’m going
to help her differs from (the semantically similar) I intend to help her, which involves
two lexical verbs and therefore refers to two different situations.
With the possible exception of is/are going to, which is also often used to express
‘PURE FUTURE’ (i.e. to talk about the post-present without relating it to present
circumstances, as in I wonder if it is going to rain tomorrow), futurish tense forms
are less prototypical expressions of post-present time reference than the future tense
(‘will/shall + infinitive’) because they do imply a link with the present. This accounts
for the fact that is/are to is not normally substituted for will in more complex tense
forms like future perfects or progressive future tense forms:

(7) Tomorrow the Queen {will have been / ∗ is to have been}in Canada for four days.
(8) I can’t receive you at three. I {will be having / ∗ am to be having}guests then.

In such complex verb forms will always expresses pure future.

In sum, while the future tense is used to express ‘pure future’ (i.e. to make a mere
prediction and in doing so refer to the post-present only), futurish tense forms typically
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effect dual time reference and therefore have more specific meanings involving an
element of present time reference. For example, The Queen is to leave for Canada
tomorrow refers to an official arrangement which exists at t0 and is expected to be acted
on tomorrow. This sentence is not primarily used to predict the Queen’s departure but
rather to state the present existence of an arrangement which is expected to lead to a
post-present actualization (viz. the Queen’s leaving for Canada).

3 Is be to an auxiliary?

3.1 The modal auxiliary be to

Coates (1983: 4) points out that ‘a modal auxiliary has the following characteristics’:
(a) It has what Huddleston (1976: 333) calls the NICE properties (Negation, Inversion,
Code, Emphasis), i.e. it does not allow do-insertion in negative sentences, in sentences
with inversion, in ‘code’ (i.e. when a PRO-form is needed for a verb or verb phrase)
and when the verb needs to receive a heavy accent. Be to satisfies each of these
criteria:
(9) (a) The Queen {is not / ∗ doesn’t be} to leave until tomorrow.
(b) ‘{Is she / ∗ Does she be} to leave for Canada tomorrow?’ – ‘Yes, she {is / ∗ does}.’
(c) ‘The Queen is to leave for Canada tomorrow.’ – ‘No, she {isn’t / ∗ doesn’t be}!’

(b) A modal auxiliary has no -s form in the third person singular (e.g. ∗ musts). Be to
satisfies this criterion in so far as there is no form ∗ bes. On the other hand, be to differs
from auxiliaries like must, can, may, etc. in that it has three present tense forms: am,
are, is.
(c) Modal auxiliaries have no nonfinite forms. Be to shares this characteristic:3
(10) What I hate most in this job is {to have to / ∗ to be to / having to / ∗ being to} get up
in the middle of the night.

It follows that we should not refer to the auxiliary be to as ∗ to be to: the auxiliary never
occurs in the latter form.
(d) A modal auxiliary cannot co-occur with another modal auxiliary in Standard
English: ∗ He may can do it; ∗ Can she must work as a hooker? Unlike the semi-
auxiliaries need to and have to, be to also satisfies this criterion:
(11) He may {have to / need to / ∗ be to} leave tomorrow.

A further criterion we could appeal to is that modal auxiliaries are not linked to the
main verb by to: He {must/may/could}(∗ to) be the man the police are looking for. One
might argue that be to does not share this characteristic, but one may also argue that it
does, because, as in the case of used to and ought to, the to forms part of the auxiliary

3 This conclusion only concerns Present-day English. The entry for be to in the Oxford English Dictionary
contains some examples from the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in which the nonfinite form
being to is used.
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itself and is not the to that is used as an ‘infinitive marker’, as in I intend to help him
(which alternates with I intend helping him). This analysis is supported by the fact that,
unlike intend, be to loses its lexical meaning when to is omitted.
In sum, be to has all but one of the characteristics of a modal auxiliary, including
the characteristics (c) and (d) which ‘semi-auxiliaries’ like have to or need to do not
share. It is therefore surprising that be to is often excluded from discussions of modal
auxiliaries, sometimes even from treatments of English modality altogether (see e.g.
Coates 1983; Biber et al. 1999). In what follows I will treat be to as an auxiliary.4

3.2 The futurish auxiliary be to

The auxiliaries of tense (have), aspect (be) and voice (be) do not share characteristics
(b)–(d) of modal auxiliaries, but they do have the NICE-properties (= characteristic
(a)) and are not followed by to. The same is true of the tense auxiliary will, which in
addition shares characteristic (b), i.e. no -s is added in the third person singular.
The futurish auxiliary be to has exactly the same formal and syntactic characteristics
as the modal auxiliary be to.

3.3 One or two auxiliaries be to?

I have just distinguished between the modal auxiliary be to and the futurish auxiliary
be to, but this distinction is really a simplification. As noted in the introductory section,
there is no synchronic evidence for the existence of two different (but homophonous)
auxiliaries be to in present-day English. Rather, there appears to be one auxiliary be
to, which is basically a modal auxiliary but also allows a futurish use. I will attempt
to substantiate this claim below. But first I have to introduce some terminology in
connection with modal auxiliaries.

4 Talking about sentences involving a modal auxiliary

The meaning of John must give in is something like ‘It is obligatory for John to give
in’, which means that the logical form of the sentence can be represented as ‘MUST
[John give in]’ or ‘Obligatory [John give in]’. This shows that such a sentence really
involves reference to two situations: the ‘MODAL STATE’ expressed by the auxiliary (in
the above example: the state of it being obligatory that John should give in) and the
situation referred to by what Huddleston (1984: 167–8) calls the ‘RESIDUE’, i.e. what

4 Palmer (1990: 4, 164) also comes to the conclusion that sufficient criteria are satisfied to speak of an auxiliary,
but he calls the auxiliary in question IS TO, saying that ‘because there are no non-finite forms, it is not appropriate
to refer to it as be to; be to does not occur’. I will not follow this practice because (a) it is an arbitrary choice to
label the auxiliary IS TO rather than AM TO or ARE TO, (b) it suggests that IS TO and WERE TO are unrelated auxiliaries,
and (c) is to, am to, are to, was to and were to are naturally felt to be forms of one and the same verb be to.
Huddleston & Pullum et al. (2002: 206) speak of the ‘quasi-modal be’. Since this be cannot be used without
to (except in code), I find it better to refer to it as be to.
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is left of a clause with a modal auxiliary when the auxiliary is abstracted from it, viz.
the subject plus the (nontensed and nonmodal) proposition which has the form of an
infinitival clause. In the above example [John must give in] the residue is ‘John give
in’.
For ease of reference we can refer to the two situations as the ‘MODAL STATE’ and
the ‘RESIDUE-SITUATION’, respectively. The propositions underlying them can be called
the ‘MODAL PROPOSITION’ and the ‘RESIDUE-PROPOSITION’. The modal state is represented
as a factual situation, whereas the residue-situation is conceptualized as a situation
whose potential actualization is posterior to the time of the modal state. Thus, Sharon
is to be back at five can be used to refer to a present arrangement for Sharon to
be back at five. (Note that unlike Sharon will be back at five, the sentence does not
actually predict that this will be the case. There may be an expectation of actualization
of the residue-situation, but this is partly determined pragmatically by what we
know about the world, especially about Sharon’s habit of keeping or not keeping
arrangements.)
It will be pointed out in the next section that the basic meaning of the modal
auxiliary be to is to express necessity which can follow from various factors (‘M-
ORIGINS’), which are partly different from those determining the necessity expressed by
must. What be to shares with must (but not with have to or need to) is that in negative
clauses it is not the modal proposition that is negated but the residue-proposition.
In other words, the negation has no effect on the existence of the modal state.
Compare:
(12) John does not {have/need} to know that. (absence of necessity: ‘It is not necessary
for John to know that.’)
(13) John {mustn’t/isn’t to} know that. (necessity of nonactualization of the residue-
situation: ‘It is necessary that John should not know that.’)
(14) You {mustn’t/aren’t to} touch that switch! (prohibition, i.e. necessity of
nonactualization of the residue-situation)
(15) Hermits must keep to their cells; they are not to be aroused by sensual sights or
sounds. (Cobuild)
(16) No fires are to be lit in places exposed to the South, no doubt for fear of forest and
grass fires. (Cobuild)
(17) However, the disciple is not to expect ‘pennies from heaven’. (Cobuild)

5 Futurity-related meaning(s) of the auxiliary be to

5.1 Necessity
In the case of be to the modal state is typically the existence of some kind of necessity.
What distinguishes be to from other markers of necessity (like must, have to or need to)
is the kinds of necessity it can express, i.e. the origins of the necessity – the ‘M-origins’.
The main M-origins have been identified in most historical and traditional grammars,
as well as in recent grammatical work. There is a widespread consensus that they can
be summarized under the first five of the following eight headings:
278 R E N A AT D E C L E R C K

(a) The actualization of the residue-situation may depend on destiny:

(18) Several years later I was to meet him again at a conference in Amsterdam. (destiny’s
arrangement)
(19) Plans were made which were never to be carried out. (= which were destined never
to be carried out)
(20) Are we ever to meet again? (future in the hands of fate)
(21) The day broke, the day which was to decide the fate of India. (Poutsma 1928: 49)

It is worth noting that this use of be to differs from all its other uses in that there is a sense
of actualization of the residue-situation: in all these sentences the situation referred to
by the main verb is interpreted as having actualized in the past. (Substituting would for
was/were to would have the same effect. See Declerck (2003: 97–8) for a discussion
of this exceptional use of would and was/were to meaning ‘being destined to’.)5
(b) Be to can express obligation or necessity resulting from an arrangement, plan,
agreement, decision:
(22) Helen is to appear on television tomorrow.
(23) The mother has emphasised she wants nothing to do with him and I have told him he
is not to go near the family. (Cobuild)
(24) Volkers, too, was in touch with his lawyers and is to appeal. (Cobuild)
(25) Teenagers too young to drink alcohol are to be allowed to serve drinks in pubs and
hotels under government proposals for a three-year apprenticeship. (Cobuild)
(26) Last week it was announced that Sheila Gunn, a Times diarist and former political
correspondent, was to join the Smith Square press office. (Cobuild)

In this use, be to usually implies an official arrangement or decision, but it may also be
a personal one:
(27) New year, new resolution. With heavy heart, I’m finally giving in to the unavoidable
march of progress. I’m going metric. Pounds and ounces are to be banished from my
recipes. (Cobuild)

(c) Be to can express compulsion resulting from an order or prohibition:

(28) Our instructions were explicit. We were to shoot at anything that moved.
(29) I’m to be in the barracks before midnight. (= a reported command)
(30) Nobody asks me if I like the bloody suit. I’m not to open my bloody mouth. I’m just
a parcel of shit that has to be tarted up. (Cobuild) (prohibition: ‘I’ve been told not to
open my mouth.’)
(31) Further, they are not to criticise the Council, and not to pass on to outsiders any
information concerning the work of the commissions. (Cobuild)

(d) Be to can also express the order or prohibition itself:

(32) You there! You are to return to your post at once!
(33) [Constable speaking:] You are not to leave now. You are to stay here till the inspector
arrives.

5 Because would can replace was/were to in this use, one might argue that we have to do here with the futurish
tense auxiliary be to rather than with the modal auxiliary.
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(34) The old man said softly, ‘You’re to pretend Olly is your sister. You’re not to get her
with child.’ (Cobuild)

(e) Sometimes be to simply expresses what is fitting (suitable, appropriate). In this use
it can be replaced by should:
(35) The costume designers are to be complimented. (www)
(36) The whole cast is truly dedicated to this production, and we also are to applaud
Immigrants Theatre’s commitment to exposing American audiences to international
and immigrant plays. (www)
(37) The pioneering work conducted in the field of embryo research is gaining pace at a
dizzying rate, and much of it is to be commended. (Cobuild)
(38) You are to congratulate Miss Medway too on her approaching nuptials with Mr.
Branville. (www)

(f) A similar (but generally neglected) use is that in which be to expresses a reasonable
or advisable course of action. Here too, should can be used instead:
(39) These drug addicts are to be helped rather than arrested. (www) (are to = should)
(40) He has broken wide open the shell of Western cultural exclusiveness by insisting
that from the religious point of view Western societies are to be ‘confronted with the
gospel no less relentlessly than Third World societies’. (Cobuild)
(41) Shoppers by now may have heard something about mercury in fish and may shy away
from purchasing fish altogether if they don’t get a clear message about which fish
they are to avoid. (www)
(42) Fresh pasta is to be eaten fresh, not frozen. (Cobuild)

In the following sentences too, be to could be replaced by should:

(43) Who is to be blamed for this misconduct? (Cobuild)6
(44) Therefore, all of the acts of morality by the Shin devotee . . . are to be considered as
thanksgiving to Amida Buddha for His Love and Mercy. (Cobuild)
(45) People are learning to be more experimental with clothes . . . They are throwing off
the shackles of wearing only designer labels, and feeling that their patronage is to be
deserved, rather than taken for granted. (Cobuild)

In the following examples, be to resembles should in that the M-origin of the necessity
is some social or moral standard:
(46) And there’s a big row going on at the moment anyway between social services and
health authorities about what’s to be funded. (Cobuild)
(47) The worth of individual animals is not to be measured in terms of their utility for us.
And just as I truly recognize your worth or dignity as an individual only when I come
to realise that I am not to use you merely in order to advance my own interests or
those of the group I favour, so I truly recognize the worth and dignity of individual
animals only if I come to this same realization in their case. (Cobuild)

6 Is to be blamed alternates with is to blame in such examples. The latter expression is stereotyped. Other passive
infinitives following be to cannot normally be replaced by their active counterpart: Fresh pasta is to {be eaten /
∗ eat} fresh. See also section (i) below.
280 R E N A AT D E C L E R C K

(g) I have found some examples in which be to conveys a particular sense of intention
or goal and allows the paraphrase ‘be meant to’:
(48) Am I to understand that a Macy employee doesn’t know how to make a cash sale?
(www)
(49) Keep your kitchen clean. Wash worktops and utensils between handling food which
is to be cooked and food which is not. (Cobuild) (is to be cooked = ‘is meant to be
cooked’)
(50) Where products are supplied which are to be connected to a telecommunications
network or circuit run by BT or a third party, it is the Customer’s responsibility to
arrange for such connection to be made . . . (Cobuild)

(h) In a number of examples that I have found there is some sense of necessity, but its
origin is rather indefinable:
(51) Nobody asks ‘Who is to say what murder is?’ or ‘Who is to define burglary?’.
(Cobuild)
(52) I’m broke! I’ve lost everything. What am I to do now? (The M-origin is as vague as
in What am I supposed to do now?)
(53) It is to be expected that the trade unions will react vehemently. (www) (The
contribution of is to to the interpretation of the sentence is minimal. The only
difference between is to be expected and is expected is that the latter expresses a
present fact and in doing so implies that the actualization of the residue-situation is
generally expected, whereas the former does not: it is not because the speaker says
that something is to be expected that the thing in question is actually expected by
anybody else, let alone by everybody. This means that be to still implies a sense of
necessity, even if it is so weak that the unqualified paraphrase ‘It is necessary to . . . ’
is no longer appropriate.)
(54) Time will tell which administration officials are to be believed! (Cobuild)

Consider also:
(55) How many more of our children are to be attacked and beaten to near death before
something is done? (Cobuild)

In this type of sentence the origin of the necessity is totally vague, which probably
accounts for the fact that any auxiliary or semi-auxiliary expressing necessity can be
used in such sentences:
(56) How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man? (Bob Dylan)
(57) How many frogs do you have to kiss before you find a prince? (www)
(58) How many lives should be lost before authorities enforce seat belts rule? (www)
(59) How many people ought to know a secret before it ceases to be one? (www)
(60) How many more peaceful Burmese need perish before a change happens? (www)
(61) How many calories need to be burned before they start adding up to pounds? (www)

(i) In the above sections (a)–(h) I have treated be to as a modal auxiliary expressing
necessity of some kind. Intuitively, I would not extend this analysis to examples like
the following:
(62) Who is to blame for the accident?
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(63) What is there to do?

(64) There is this to remember: he is dangerous!

In such sentences is seems to be a form of the copula be and ‘to + infinitive’ seems to
express necessity by itself. This is in keeping with the fact that ‘to + infinitive’ can be
used without be:
(65) The person to blame for the accident is the driver.
(66) I’m wondering about what to do.
(67) The thing to remember is that he is dangerous.

Of course, relative clauses with the modal auxiliary be to can also often be reduced to
infinitival relative clauses, but this is usually possible only when the relative clause is
passive (e.g. John is the man {to be congratulated/∗ to congratulate} on this job). In the
above examples the infinitival relative clause is in the active voice.

5.2 Be to with futurish time reference

The futurish use of be to in present-day English is closely related to these modal uses,
especially to the use in which the M-origin is an official arrangement.7 The modal
interpretation shifts to a futurish interpretation when the emphasis shifts from the
present existence of the modal state to the future actualization of the residue-situation.8
This shift of emphasis is accompanied by a loss of doubt about this future actualization.
For example, Helen is to appear on television tomorrow can be interpreted as merely
reporting the existence of a present arrangement. In this case be to is a modal auxiliary.
Depending on pragmatic factors, the speaker and/or addressee may or may not have
doubts as to whether Helen will actually appear on television, but this is irrelevant to
this interpretation, which is concerned with the present arrangement only. However,
on the futurish interpretation of is to appear, the main point of the message is the
future actualization of the residue-situation, which is treated as equally certain as
in Helen will appear on television tomorrow. Like any post-present situation, the
residue-situation is ‘not-yet-factual at t0’ (see section 2.2), but the predominant idea
is that its future actualization is confidently predicted. The only difference between
will appear and is to appear (on the futurish reading) is that, unlike will, is to reveals
the ‘M-origin’ (see section 5.1) on which the prediction is based, which is a present
arrangement.

7 Some people consider ‘reference to future events that are planned or arranged’ as the only ‘temporal use’ of a
present tense form of be to (Palmer 1990: 165). However, as we will see, this is an oversimplification.
8 Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1985: 143) claim that ‘Be to is an idiom expressing futurity, with varied
connotations of “compulsion”, “plan”, “destiny”, etc, according to context.’ I argue that it is essentially the other
way round. Be to is primarily a modal auxiliary referring to a present or past modal state, with a connotation of
expected posterior actualization of the situation indicated by the infinitive clause. However, the emphasis may
shift from the former element to the latter.
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5.3 Implications
It follows that the emphasis on the future actualization of the residue-situation is
strongest when the sense of necessity forming the M-origin is strongest, i.e. when
the actualization resulting from the necessity is considered as inevitable. This is the
case if the M-origin is destiny, because destiny is generally treated as inescapable.
This explains that, when the M-origin is destiny and is located in the past, the
posterior actualization of the residue-situation (which is not-yet-factual at the time
of the existence of the M-origin) can often be interpreted as a past fact (i.e. as factual
at t0 ):
(68) He was born as the son of an impoverished cab driver but was to become one of the
wealthiest business men in the city.

The form would become can easily be used here instead of was to become (especially
in American English). This is the only use of the tense auxiliary would that implies
past factuality.
Next to destiny, official arrangements, decisions and orders constitute the strongest
cases of necessity that can be expressed by modal be to. It is therefore not surprising that
these M-origins are nearly always the ones that are implied on a futurish interpretation
of be to. The idea that some course of action is appropriate, reasonable or advisable is
a much weaker M-origin, so that sentences like the following do not so easily invite
a futurish interpretation (i.e. they are not likely to be used as predictions based on a
present M-origin):
(69) These drug addicts are to be helped rather than arrested.
(70) You are to congratulate Miss Medway too on her approaching nuptials with
Mr. Branville. (www)
(71) We’re trying to work out how the money is to be allotted. (www)
(72) Anything which encourages those people to protect themselves is to be applauded.
(Cobuild)

5.4 Be to expressing pure future

In this subsection I will give a number of examples in which the (strong or weak)
M-origin of the necessity is bleached, so that the hearer’s attention is directed to the
future actualization of the residue-situation. A common feature of all the examples is
that the clause with be to is positive. This stands to reason. As remarked in section 4,
when a clause with modal be to is negative (e.g. I’m not to say this to anyone), it always
expresses the necessity of nonactualization of the residue-situation. In section 5.2 it
was stated that a futurish interpretation of a clause with be to comes about when the
emphasis shifts from the present existence of the modal state (necessity) to the future
actualization of the residue-situation, and that this shift of emphasis is accompanied
by a loss of doubt about this future actualization. Needless to say, there cannot be
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such a shift of emphasis to future actualization if the clause expresses the necessity of
nonactualization of the residue-situation.9
(a) The idea of destiny is usually backgrounded when be to is used in the present
tense. In the following examples will can be substituted for are to without a discernible
change of meaning:
(73) The rest of the girls on the team are also the most gorgeous honeys you are ever to
meet. (www)
(74) That, I feel, is the greatest compliment the SVR are ever to receive. (www)
(75) I think it may be a long time before we are ever to see their like again. (www)

(b) The following are examples with futurish be to in which the bleached M-origin is
an official arrangement, plan, decision or order:
(76) Nelson Mandela is to address the Irish parliament today and will have talks with
Prime Minister Charles Haughey before travelling to London, where he’s to meet
Mrs Thatcher on Wednesday. (Cobuild) (Note the alternation of be to and will.)
(77) The Cuban government has announced that it is to allow young people in their
twenties to travel abroad more easily in a further relaxation of its rules over who is
allowed to leave the country. (Cobuild)

In the following examples the bleaching of the M-origin (viz. necessity) is virtually
complete: the M-origin is no longer clearly discernible, so that be to expresses little
more than a prediction, i.e. ‘pure future’:
(78) Still putting the fortune-tellers hat on the head, I would have thought that, well,
within – over – during – I’m not quite sure which word to use – the framework
of these next two years er you are to achieve a remarkable degree of success, a
disproportionate degree of success. (Cobuild)
(79) This does not mean to say that you are to become a rich or a wealthy man but I
think that certainly it is a potent and powerful indication that suggests that you are
to acquire greater control over finances. (Cobuild)

(c) Be to also expresses pure future (without a clear idea of necessity) in questions like
the following:
(80) Water for all – who is to pay? (Cobuild)
(81) How this is to be achieved varies from writer to writer. (Cobuild)

Here the speaker is not concerned at all with what might be the M-origin (i.e. the kind
of necessity) of the future actualization of the residue-situation.
(d) There is also complete bleaching of the M-origin if be to collocates with still or
yet:

9 According to Palmer (1990: 165), when be to expresses pure future ‘negative forms cannot be distinguished
as negating either the modality or the [residue-]proposition, but simply deny the future event. (This is typical
of future time markers – see 7.6.1.)’ However, Palmer does not give a single negative example in which be to
expresses pure future, and I have not found any in the about two thousand examples of be to that I have gone
through.
284 R E N A AT D E C L E R C K

(82) The very best is {yet/still} to come.

(83) These problems are {yet/still} to be solved.

The predominant idea here is that of ‘not-yet-factuality at t0 ’, which is typical of

any clause referring to a situation that is posterior to t0 – see section 2.2. The same
interpretation sometimes suggests itself without still or yet (which could, however,
easily be added):
(84) ‘Are we talking about just sending the second pass proofs or assembling them at a
set place for a colloquium?’ – ‘That’s to be debated.’ (Cobuild)

When the idea of potential posterior actualization of the residue-situation has a past
(rather than present) M-origin, ‘still/yet + be to’ in fact expresses no more than ‘not-
yet-factuality at t0 ’. In that case only the context can make it clear whether actualization
in the future is still expected or not:
(85) He’s made a lot of promises during his campaign and he is still to keep the first
of them. (Post-present actualization of the residue-situation is apparently no longer
expected.)
(86) We’re still to find the first clue as to who killed her. But it’s still early days. We’re
bound to find something.

To summarize section 5.4, there exist examples in which the (strong or weak) M-
origin of the necessity is bleached, so that the hearer’s attention is directed to the
future actualization of the residue-situation. As noted in section 5.2, this is the way a
futurish interpretation of a clause with be to comes about: when the emphasis shifts
from the present existence of the modal state (necessity) to the future actualization
of the residue-situation. This shift of emphasis is naturally accompanied by a loss of
doubt about this future actualization. There are some cases in which the bleaching of
the M-origin is complete, so that be to can be said to express ‘pure future’ (and is
sometimes interchangeable with will).

5.5 Modal meanings other than necessity

Apart from expressing necessity (resulting from various kinds of M-origins), modal
be to also has a couple of other modal meanings. In section 6 I will discuss its uses
in conditional clauses. There are also clauses in which be to expresses theoretical
possibility or impossibility when it is followed by the passive infinitive of certain
verbs. This use is rather old-fashioned, except in a number of idioms or stereotyped
combinations (like is to be found, usually with an indication of location).
(87) French books are not to be found in this bookshop. (= It is impossible to find . . . )
(88) A lot of his work is to be seen in Tate Gallery. (= can be seen)
(89) Why should we not have time left this year in which to beat the Germans before
Winter? If our Government would only stir themselves it is to be done. (Cobuild)
(90) The up-side is to be found by moving your position in both literal and figurative
terms, and acting from the heart. (Cobuild)
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(91) Radzinsky makes much of the access he has had to the presidential and other archives
which had been closed, but little more than juicy titbits are to be gathered from them.
(= It’s not possible, given the nature of the archives, to gather much more than juicy
titbits.)

This use of be to need not be further examined here because it does not lead to a
futurish use of the auxiliary. Like can, which could be used instead, be to just expresses
a present modal state, without even implying actualization of the residue-situation. The
statement that something ‘is to be done’ (in the sense of ‘can be done’) does not imply
that it has ever been done, is actually being done or will ever be done. All that is said
is that the action in question is ‘do-able’ (feasible), i.e. that it is theoretically possible
to do it. It follows that, unlike be to expressing necessity, be to expressing possibility
does not establish ‘dual time reference’ (see section 2.2): it just expresses present
possibility. Consequently, there cannot be a shift of emphasis to the idea of post-present
actualization of the residue-situation, because there is no sense of actualization of the
residue-situation at all, unless it is induced by the context, in which case the actualization
of the residue-situation may be located not only in the future but also in the past:
(92) It is also recognised that a united Ireland is to be brought about only by peaceful
means and with the consent of the people. (Cobuild) (It is common knowledge that
there has not been actualization yet.)
(93) But let’s control our hysteria. Gill is 60 years dead. What is to be achieved by ripping
his Stations of the Cross from the cathedral wall? (Cobuild) (Used in a context which
makes it clear that the ripping has already been done.)

6 Be to in conditional clauses
In some types of conditional clause, be to can be used as a modal auxiliary expressing
necessity (resulting from the above defined M-origins) or as a futurish form. It can also
have some other uses, which are restricted to conditional clauses and are unrelated to
the use of be to as a futurish auxiliary.

6.1 Clauses expressing a closed condition

A CLOSED CONDITION is ‘a condition which the speaker treats as assumed to be fulfilled in
the actual world (e.g. If, as you say, you can’t accompany me tonight, I’ll have to look for
someone else)’ (Declerck & Reed 2001: 477). In clauses expressing a closed condition
‘the tense forms in both clauses have their normal temporal meanings – see also
Dancygier (1988: 126) – and the temporal reference is expressed in the same way as in
independent clauses’ (Declerck & Reed 2001: 146). This explains why clauses express-
ing a closed condition and referring to the post-present make use of the future tense or
a futurish tense form (establishing a post-present temporal domain – see section 2.2):
(94) If he will be in London from tomorrow onwards, it was pointless to send the files to
his home address yesterday.
286 R E N A AT D E C L E R C K

(95) If, as is forecast, the river is going to rise as high as this, the meadows over there will
be flooded.
(96) If Claude will be here tomorrow, there’s no need to call him now. (Close 1980: 107)

As is to be expected, be to can also be found in such closed conditional clauses. The

implication then is that the present necessity of future actualization of the residue-
situation is taken for granted at t0 . The conditional clause can foreground either the
present sense of necessity or the future actualization of the residue-situation. In the
latter case it is used as a futurish auxiliary:
(97) If the players are to be congratulated, so is the coach.
(98) [‘John’s to address the General Assembly.’] – ‘If John’s to address the General
Assembly, I’ll make sure I’m there to support him.’ (present arrangement about the
future)
(99) If, as they say, the activists are to appear in court, the judge will have to condemn
them. (present arrangement about the future)
(100) If the issue is still to be debated, we will not make any official statements. (futurish
form which virtually expresses pure future – see section 5.4)

There is another use of be to in closed conditional clauses which is noted in most

grammars: ‘Be to can be used in if-clauses where the hypothesis that is made concerns
a goal which the referent of the subject may wish to attain’ (Declerck 1991b: 376). The
following examples allow this interpretation:
(101) If we are to make any progress at all, we must set about finding a solution to this
problem. (= in order to make . . . ; if we intend to make . . . )
(102) If you are to learn more about it, you must ask Mr Broth for details. (Cobuild)
(103) Many young executives . . . believe they must behave like this if they are to
accomplish anything and get ahead. (Cobuild)
(104) A US deal is essential for HSBC if it is ever to be the global banking group it aspires
to be. (Cobuild)
(105) But changes are inevitable if Mr Marshall is to achieve the long-term goals he has
set for the school. (Cobuild)

There are, however, also examples in which it is not the referent of the subject that
wants to attain the goal:

(106) It is important that your lips are soft and well moisturised if your lipstick is to
adhere successfully. (Cobuild)
(107) Adjustments simply have to be made if small bickerings aren’t to develop into major
rows. (Cobuild)
(108) You must be prepared to set aside about 20 minutes a day if the tapes are to bring
results. (Cobuild)
(109) If any good is to come from the anguish of Michael Gray, then football’s rule-makers
will see to it no player ever again has to endure the humiliation of Sunderland’s
full-back at Wembley. (Cobuild)

For this reason, a better paraphrase of the use of ‘if + be to’ in the above examples is ‘if
the future actualization of the residue-situation is seen as necessary or desirable’. The
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if-clause expresses a closed condition and refers to the assumed present desirability of
a future actualization of the residue-situation.10 ‘Desirability’ is more adequate as a
general term than ‘goal’.

6.2 Clauses expressing an open condition

Declerck & Reed (2001: 494) define an OPEN CONDITION as a condition expressed in
a clause ‘whose situation is assumed by the speaker to be one that may or may not
actualise (or have actualised) in the real world. That is, the speaker treats fulfilment of
the condition (supposition) as uncertain, but as a real possibility.’ For example:
(110) I will be happy if we find a solution.
(111) [I hope Liverpool won their home match yesterday.] If they did, they still have a
chance of winning the championship.

There are various ways in which the auxiliary be to can be used in open if-clauses.
Firstly, if the condition concerns the present necessity of actualization of the residue-
situation, it is an open condition if the speaker states or implies that he/she does not
know whether or not the necessity exists at t0 (in other words, whether or not the
condition is fulfilled at t0 ). In that case both modal and futurish be to can be used.
(112) If the activists are to appear in court – which I doubt – the judge will have to condemn
them. (emphasis on the idea of present necessity resulting from a decision)
(113) I don’t know how many amendments have already been dealt with. If amendment 37
is yet to be debated, there will not be many MPs taking part in the debate. (futurish
form – see section 5.4)

Secondly, the use of ‘if + be to’ that was noted in section 6.1.2 and in which ‘if + be
to’ can be paraphrased as ‘if the future actualization of the residue-situation is seen
as necessary or desirable’ is possible not only in closed conditionals but also in open
ones. It suffices that the speaker does not know whether the condition is fulfilled or not.
(114) I don’t know if that’s your intention, but if you are to become a professional player,
you will have to practise more.
(115) It is noticeable from the tournament forms that have been returned that a number
of players are not keeping records of their matches played. If you are to become
good tennis players you will need to keep a good record of every match played and

10 In negative if-clauses, the desirability concerns the nonactualization of the residue-situation:

(i) If ‘liberation’ is not to become a meaningless slogan for the bulk of the population, these issues have
to be tackled. (Cobuild)
The same is true of unless-clauses:
(ii) The news from the Mexican frontier has always to be sifted, unless we are to be led astray by its
meaning and significance. (www)
(iii) Unless Christians are to conclude that God was fooled, the conclusion must be that it was the serpent
alone that was responsible. (www)
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every tournament entered. (Cobuild) (Most players presumably want to become

good tennis players, but some might not have that ambition.)

In such examples the sense of present desirability (of actualization of the residue-
situation) is quite prominent, so that be to is more likely to be the modal auxiliary here
than the futurish tense auxiliary.
Thirdly, we will see in section 6.3 that ‘were to + infinitive’ (and, in an informal
style, the past tense form ‘was to + infinitive’) can replace the past tense in ‘tentative
conditionals’ like I would be lucky if she chose me, in which the actualization of the
if-clause situation is seen as not impossible but rather unlikely. The addition of were to
tends to strengthen the sense of improbability:
(116) I would be lucky if she {were to / was to} choose me.

Occasional examples can be found in which a present tense form of be to is similarly

inserted into a clause expressing an open condition:
(117) Heathrow’s an international airport megastar and it must stay that way. If you’re to
ask people who live outside Europe where is their chosen destination, over fifty per
cent of them say Heathrow. (Cobuild)
(118) Here too there are accusations of discrimination and a feeling that Russians have
become second class citizens. But a Russian backlash, if it is to come, need not be
restricted to Moldavia and the Baltic republics. There is a large Russian community
in the Ukraine and in Central Asia too. (Cobuild)

This use of be to is quite grammatical but appears to have gone unnoticed. However, the
present tense of be to can certainly not be systematically used in this way in open condi-
tional clauses, and this use cannot underlie the use of be to as a futurish tense auxiliary.

6.3 Clauses expressing a tentative condition

Declerck & Reed (2001: 508) call a condition TENTATIVE if its proposition forms part of
a ‘tentative suppositional world’. A tentative world is mostly assumed by the speaker
to be unlikely to be (or become) the actual world. In other words, the speaker treats
fulfilment of the supposition as a rather unlikely possibility (e.g. I would be happy if
she came). A suppositional world can also be represented as tentative for reasons of
tact, politeness, etc. (e.g. I would appreciate it if you gave me a hand).
In a tentative if-clause,11 the past subjunctive or past tense of be to can be inserted
into the verb form in order to strengthen the sense of improbability (of actualization)
or to render a request more polite:

11 Examples with unless are also easily found. In some of them there is no clear reference to the future:
(i) Unless Scalia were to dissent or concur in almost every case, he has to compromise. (www)
(ii) A fuss erupts when he heals someone and, whoops, it’s the Sabbath: ‘You can’t do that!’ His guys
don’t do the washing ritual right before they eat. He lets a menstruating woman touch him; he touches
people who are dead – both of which, unless he were to go through extensive purification ritual, are
violations of the Bible itself! (www)
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(119) What would you say if she were to ask you about your profession?
(120) If you were to move your chair a little to the left, we could pass through more easily.

Although the residue-situation is interpreted here as lying in the post-present, were

to cannot be analysed as a futurish form. For one thing, the residue-situation is also
interpreted as lying in the post-present if we do not insert were to, as in What would you
say if she asked you about your profession? and If you moved your chair a little to the
left, we could pass through more easily. For another, there are examples in which the
if-clause with were to refers to the present rather than the future: I would be surprised
if he were to be the man the police are looking for.

6.4 Counterfactual conditions

There are no recent major grammars that note the possibility of inserting be to into
clauses expressing a COUNTERFACTUAL (unfulfilled) condition, but the following are some
of the examples that are to be found on the internet:
(121) If I had been to consult my own feelings, I should have been more willing to produce
an enlarged edition. (www, UK)
(122) If I had been to judge from the effects it had upon Boots, I would have been led to
form but a poor opinion of his talents. (www, UK)
(123) If I had been to guess before-hand, I should have conjectured that . . . (www, UK)

This use (in which ‘had been to + infinitive’ replaces a past perfect form) is archaic,
and even more so is the use of ‘had been to + perfect infinitive’:

(124) He said that if he had been to have made an incision as a surgeon, he could not have
made a clearer wound; the instrument must be very sharp. (www) (dated 1790)

Since there is no sense of posterior actualization of the residue-situation at all in any

of the examples given in this subsection 6.4, this use of be to is quite unrelated to the
present-day use of be to as a futurish auxiliary.

7 Conclusion
The following are the main findings of the above synchronic analysis of be to:
(a) Be to satisfies all but one of the morphosyntactic characteristics of true auxiliaries
like must or should. It can therefore safely be treated as an auxiliary.
(b) Be to is primarily a modal auxiliary expressing the necessity of future
actualization of the residue-situation. Eight possible M-origins (= origins of the
necessity) have been identified.
(c) The idea of future actualization of the residue-situation is stronger according as the
sense of necessity forming the M-origin is stronger. The strongest sense of necessity is
destiny (which is considered as inevitable). Official arrangements, decisions and orders
constitute the next strongest cases. The idea that some course of action is appropriate,
290 R E N A AT D E C L E R C K

reasonable or advisable is a much weaker M-origin, so that sentences using be to to

express such an idea do not so strongly imply a sense of future actualization of the
residue-situation.
(d) The futurish use of be to in present-day English is closely related to these
modal uses, especially to the use in which the M-origin is an official arrangement. The
modal interpretation shifts to a futurish interpretation when the emphasis shifts from
the present existence of the modal state (necessity) to the future actualization of the
residue-situation. This shift of emphasis is accompanied by a loss of doubt about this
future actualization.
In other words, the futurish reading comes to the fore when the (strong or weak)
M-origin of the necessity is bleached, so that the hearer’s attention is directed to the
future actualization of the residue-situation. What all the examples have in common
is that the clause with be to is positive. Various cases of such bleaching have been
treated in section 5.4. In some cases (e.g. when be to collocates with still or yet), the
bleaching of the M-origin is complete, so that only the sense of futurity (and hence of
not-yet-factuality-at-t0 ) is left. In some other cases there is no clear difference between
is to and will, so that they can alternate with each other within the same sentence.
(e) The use of ‘be to + passive infinitive’ to express that the actualization of the
residue-situation is theoretically possible cannot lead to a future time interpretation.
(f) Neither can any of the uses of be to in any of the several types of conditional
clauses that have been distinguished.
Author’s address:
Reigersvliet 11
8500 Kortrijk
Belgium
renaat.declerck@kuleuven-kortrijk.be

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Svartvik (eds.), Studies in English linguistics for Randolph Quirk, 100–9. London: Longman.
Coates, Jennifer. 1983. The semantics of the modal auxiliaries. London and Canberra: Croom
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Cygan, Jan. 1972. Tense and aspect in English and Slavic. Anglica Wratislaviensia 2, 5–12.
Dancygier, Barbara. 1988. A note on the so-called indicative conditionals. Papers and Studies
in Contrastive Linguistics 24, 123–31.
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Declerck, Renaat, in collaboration with Susan Reed & Bert Cappelle. 2006a. The grammar of
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