make sure that all the windows "are/will be" closed before you two leave.

[sitifan]

Either you or Allen has to make sure that all the windows will be closed before you two leave. (My bold.)
Source: written by a Taiwanese teacher of English.

Can I use "are" instead of "will be" in the quotation?

 

[Tarheel]

Here's how somebody might really say it. (See below.)

Make sure all the windows are closed before you leave.

Do not use "will be" there. That's the important thing.

 

[Phlebas the Phoenician]

Either you or Allen has to make sure that all the windows will be closed before you two leave. (My bold.)
Source: written by a Taiwanese teacher of English.

Can I use "are" instead of "will be" in the quotation?

"Will be" and "are" give different meanings there; thus, they are not interchangeable. Do you know what the Taiwanese teacher wants the sentence to mean?

 

[sitifan]

"Will be" and "are" give different meanings there; thus, they are not interchangeable. Do you know what the Taiwanese teacher wants the sentence to mean?

No. What's the difference in meaning between them?

 

[Phlebas the Phoenician]

What's the difference in meaning between them?

"Either you or Allen has to make sure that all the windows will be closed before you two leave."

• At the time of the making sure, the windows are expected to be open. The closing of the windows should happen before they leave. They should verify that it will. Perhaps somebody will promise that, before Allen or the addressee leave, the windows will be closed.

"Either you or Allen has to make sure that all the windows are closed before you two leave."

• At the time of the making sure, the windows should already be in a closed state. They are welcome to leave once they have verified that the windows are already in a closed state.

 

[Tarheel]

@sitifan Thanks for the information.

 

[Tarheel]

I will talk to my usage consultant about this one (at the time of the making sure), but I already knew what the answer is going to be.

 

[Tarheel]

I'll repeat what I said before. No, I'm going to revise it. In my not-so-humble opinion you shouldn't use either of the weird phrases in that post (#5).

(Either something happened to my post or I just imagined posting that one. It's weird either way.)

 

[jutfrank]

Using a future construction after make sure is much rarer than the present construction. The future here has the exact same meaning as the present tense, except that it is limited to the first of the two senses listed above.

This is wrong. See post #5 for the difference in meaning.

 

[jutfrank]

@sitifan: I think I speak for others too when I say that it confuses me when you post the opinions of other people without asking a new question.

Is it just that you want us to say whether the opinions are right or wrong? I'm usually not sure how you want us to react. It sometimes sounds like you're answering your own question.

 

[Tarheel]

@jutfrank Maybe I'm wrong to see it that way, but I tend to think I'm getting a lecture.

@sitifan I think sometimes that when I'm being sarcastic I'm too subtle about it. What do you think?

 

[5jj]

@sitifan: I think I speak for others too when I say that it confuses me when you post the opinions of other people without asking a new question.

You do.