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Can a chatbot fool you? Be bound to, be likely to and the chances are

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches be bound to and be likely to through ELIZA, one of the first chatbots, written at MIT in the mid-1960s.

Grammar
Be bound to, certain to and sure to for near certainty, be likely / unlikely to, and there's a good / little chance, the chances are and in all likelihood + a clause.
Topic
How ELIZA's keyword rules worked, why some users trusted it and how AI may change jobs, with words such as fool and illusion.
Activities
An explainer to read, a secret email bot and a student's voice memo to hear, self-checking drills, a “human or bot?” chat and a debate in steps.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: human or not?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: humans, bots and predictionsVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: the program that said “Please go on”

    • Look at the picture: a 1960s computer roomPictureUnlock
    • Read Leona's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the pairs: who or what did it?MatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: who answered my emails?

    • Listen to Leona and IsaiahListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Judy's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: the bot is bound to slip up

    • Study the scheme: how sure are you?Grammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsTry it
    • Sort the sentences into the correct columns: how sure is the speaker?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Fill in the table: say it another wayFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: spot the bot

    • Choose the right replies: spot the bot with LeonaChatTry it
    • Sort the arguments into the correct columns: for or against?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Put the parts of Isaiah's debate speech in the correct orderDrag and dropUnlock
    • Open a box and answer: the test and the debateOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what does it mean?QuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: the newsletter's debate summaryChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Leona answers JudyDrag and dropUnlock

35 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

AI vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • chatbot
  • keyword
  • therapist
  • illusion
  • computer terminal
  • giveaway
  • suspicious
  • debate
  • projection

Grammar: probability about the future: be bound to, be likely to, the chances are

These phrases say how sure you are about the future, a step beyond will probably and may well. A bot that only matches keywords makes some things almost certain and others just probable, so learners sort each phrase by how sure the speaker is, then learn which take to + verb and which take a clause.

It's bound to happen. The chances are it will.

Say how sure you are about the future, from almost certain to not probable.

Almost certain, probable, not probable

Be bound to, be certain to and be sure to mean almost certain. Be likely to, there's a good chance, the chances are and in all likelihood mean probable. For “probably not”, use unlikely to or little chance.

How sure?PhraseThenExample
almost certainbe bound to / be certain to / be sure tobase formThe bot is bound to repeat itself.
probablebe likely tobase formReaders are likely to notice.
probablethere's a good chance (that)subject + verbThere's a good chance (that) Leona will win.
probablethe chances are (that)subject + verbThe chances are (that) the test will be fun.
probablein all likelihood,subject + verbIn all likelihood, the numbers will change.
not probablebe unlikely tobase formThe bot is unlikely to win.
not probablethere's little chance (that)subject + verbThere's little chance (that) the bot will win.

Be bound to and be likely to + base form

After a person or thing, use be + bound, certain, sure, likely or unlikely + to + base form: I'm bound to make a mistake. They're unlikely to notice. Only the form of be changes with the person.

Personbe bound to + base formbe likely / unlikely to + base form
II'm (I am) bound to make a mistake.I'm (I am) unlikely to win.
youYou're (you are) bound to like it.You're (you are) likely to need help.
heHe's (he is) bound to notice.He's (he is) unlikely to agree.
sheShe's (she is) bound to guess.She's (she is) likely to win.
itIt's (it is) bound to repeat itself.It's (it is) unlikely to understand.
weWe're (we are) bound to argue.We're (we are) likely to finish late.
theyThey're (they are) bound to ask.They're (they are) unlikely to notice.

A chance and the chances are + a clause

There's a good chance, there's little chance, the chances are and in all likelihood take a whole clause with its own subject and verb: The chances are (that) the test will be fun. You can drop that, but never add to.

to + verb, or a whole clause?

After a person or thing + be bound / certain / sure / likely / unlikely comes to + base form: the bot is bound to fail, Harper is certain to win (but It's likely that… is right too). After a good / little chance, the chances are and in all likelihood comes a whole clause with its own subject and verb: there's a good chance (that) it will work. You can drop that.

A good chance or little chance?

A good chance means it will probably happen; little chance means it probably won't. Let the numbers decide: one AI was picked as the human 73% of the time, so there's a good chance it will fool a judge again. ELIZA got 23%.

a good chance or little chance?

There's a good chance = it will probably happen. There's little chance = it will probably not happen. One AI was picked as the human 73% of the time: there's a good chance it will fool a judge again. ELIZA got 23%: there's little chance it will fool most judges.

Will probably is still right

It will probably rain and It may well rain are still correct; the new phrases add variety. Chances are without the is common in American English. The phrases work for the present too: It's bound to be the bot.

will probably is still right

It will probably rain and It may well rain are still correct: the new phrases add variety. Chances are (without the) is common in American English, and in all likelihood sounds a little formal. For “probably not”, use unlikely to or little chance. These phrases work for now, too: It's bound to be the bot.

Common mistakes

The bot is bound that it fails needs is bound to fail, and Harper is certain win needs to. The clause after chance or chances has no to: not a good chance to it will work or the chances are it will to work.

  • The bot is bound that it fails.

    The bot is bound to fail.

    bound + to + base form

  • There's a good chance to it will work.

    There's a good chance (that) it will work.

    chance + (that) + a clause

  • The chances are it will to work.

    The chances are it will work.

    no to after will

  • Harper is certain win.

    Harper is certain to win.

    certain + to + base form

In the office

  • Some people are easy to fool, so the bot is bound to fool someone.
  • The chances are Leona will spot the bot by nine.
  • There's a good chance it'll write our first drafts.
  • In all likelihood, it'll just sound confident.
  • Readers are unlikely to notice.
  • There's little chance your bot will win.

More lessons on this grammar: Future tenses lessons and exercises

Try the bound to and likely to exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 21 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • say what is almost certain: The bot is bound to repeat itself. Isaiah is sure to bring his spreadsheet.
  • say what will probably happen or not: Readers are likely to notice. The bot is unlikely to understand a joke.
  • follow a good chance, the chances are and in all likelihood with a whole clause: The chances are it will repeat itself.
  • choose a good chance or little chance from the numbers: ELIZA got 23%, so there's little chance it will fool most judges.
  • argue for or against AI changing jobs: Chatbots are unlikely to replace every reporter, but they're certain to change the job.

Lesson 3 is the third lesson of AI and the future of work, unit 1 of English B2.1 · How the World Works. It takes the will probably, be likely to and may well of B1.1 lesson 31 a step further, and its texts reuse the points of lessons 1 and 2. Lesson 4 moves on to the future perfect. A program that could only match keywords was bound to give itself away, so ELIZA suits degrees of certainty well.

Students spin a wheel of questions about bots, trust and jobs, then learn twelve words, from fool and pretend to giveaway and projection, with pictures and audio. They read Leona's explainer for The Why Desk on ELIZA and the Turing test, then hear Isaiah admit that his secret bot answered her emails, and Judy, a college student, answer back; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them a table that says will probably another way. The speaking chapter has a “human or bot?” chat with Leona, arguments to sort, Isaiah's debate speech to order and boxes for the class test and debate.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game, then new sentences to complete, phrases to build from the words in brackets, word order, a quiz on how sure each speaker is, the newsletter's summary of the office debate and Leona's answer to Judy with words to drag in.

Grammar:
probability · be bound to · be likely to · there's a good chance that · the chances are · in all likelihood · predictions about the future
Topic:
ELIZA · Joseph Weizenbaum · MIT · chatbots · the Turing test · AI and jobs · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Build a certainty line on the board: almost certain at one end, probably not at the other. Students place each phrase from the scheme on it, then add one prediction of their own for each spot.
  • Run a bot test live before the chat: one student answers a message like a person, another only turns it into a question, ELIZA-style. The class guesses which reply came from the “bot.”
  • Ask what a chatbot can't do before the dialogue. Students list ideas, then listen for Leona's: a bot can't check a source, and readers want a person to listen.
  • Give each side of the debate two minutes with the sorted arguments. Every speaker uses at least one phrase with to + verb and one with a whole clause.

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The whole course: English B2.1 · How the World Works

32 lessons for adults at B2 in American English, each answering one question about how the world works. The team of The Why Desk, a small online magazine in Pittsburgh, takes on one question a week, from the day a computer beat the world chess champion to eight people sealed inside Biosphere 2. Learners tell stories with narrative tenses, speculate about the past and the future, and report what experts claim. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 AI and the future of work

    narrative tenses, by and until, be bound to and be likely to, the future perfect

    1. Lesson 1Checkmate: the day a computer beat the championNarrative tenses: past simple, past continuous and past perfect
    2. Lesson 2The robot car that crossed the desertTime prepositions: by, until, within, throughout, in time and on time
    3. Lesson 3 · you're hereCan a chatbot fool you?Probability about the future: be bound to, be likely to, the chances are
    4. Lesson 4By 2035, what will AI have designed?The future perfect simple: will have + past participle

  2. Unit 2 Health breakthroughs

    the third conditional, the past perfect and past continuous passive, have something done, the passive with two objects

    1. Lesson 5The moldy melon that changed medicineThe third conditional: if + had done, would have done
    2. Lesson 61.8 million Polio PioneersThe past perfect passive and the past continuous passive
    3. Lesson 7One clinic, many doctorsHave / get something done
    4. Lesson 8A kidney from a twinThe passive with two objects

  3. Unit 3 Moving people

    the past perfect continuous, the passive infinitive and -ing form, it's worth and there's no point, the future in the past

    1. Lesson 9Six years to the golden spikeThe past perfect continuous vs the past perfect simple
    2. Lesson 10Riding a pod with no driverThe passive infinitive and the passive -ing form
    3. Lesson 11The town that painted bike lanes firstIt's worth, there's no point and it's no use + -ing
    4. Lesson 12The highways that were supposed to take 13 yearsThe future in the past

  4. Unit 4 Wildlife comebacks

    reporting verbs with a that clause, with an object and infinitive and with -ing, verbs of perception

    1. Lesson 13Did wolves really change Yellowstone's rivers?Reporting verbs + that clause
    2. Lesson 14Bringing a parrot back from the edgeReporting verbs + object + (not) to + base form
    3. Lesson 15The beavers that came by parachuteReporting verbs + -ing and verb + preposition + -ing
    4. Lesson 16Fifteen bison take the trainVerbs of perception + object + base form or -ing

  5. Unit 5 Pop culture goes global

    comment adverbs, wish and if only for the present and the past, have someone do and get someone to do

    1. Lesson 17The party that started hip hopComment adverbs: apparently, supposedly, undoubtedly
    2. Lesson 18Slide to the left!Wish and if only for wishes about now
    3. Lesson 19If only they'd kept SupermanWish and if only + past perfect for regrets
    4. Lesson 20The hit factory on West Grand BoulevardCausative have and get: have someone do, get someone to do

  6. Unit 6 Money and smart choices

    -ever words and no matter, should have and could have, prepositions for numbers and change, it's time and would rather

    1. Lesson 21The bank that never closed-ever words and no matter
    2. Lesson 22One marshmallow now or two later?Should have, shouldn't have and could have
    3. Lesson 23Benjamin Franklin's 200-year giftPrepositions for numbers and change
    4. Lesson 24Why buy a drill you'll use once?It's (high) time and would rather + past simple

  7. Unit 7 Language and communication

    must have, might have and can't have, verb prefixes and suffixes, past modals in continuous and passive forms, agreement with quantities

    1. Lesson 25How did one man write down a language?Past modals of deduction: must have, might have, can't have
    2. Lesson 26Why do Americans write “color”?Verb prefixes and suffixes: misspell, rewrite, simplify, shorten
    3. Lesson 27The joke that needed a smileyPast modals in continuous and passive forms
    4. Lesson 28Can preschoolers save a language?Subject-verb agreement with quantities and collective nouns

  8. Unit 8 Exploring the extremes

    dimension nouns, the future continuous and future perfect continuous, compound adjectives, only, even and just

    1. Lesson 29A walk on the ocean floorDimension nouns and phrases: depth, width, height
    2. Lesson 30Six months of night at the South PoleThe future continuous and the future perfect continuous
    3. Lesson 31Flying on pedal powerCompound adjectives with numbers and participles
    4. Lesson 32Two years under glassFocus adverbs: only, even, just and at all

Questions about this lesson

What does “bound to” mean?
Be bound to + base form means “almost certain to”: The bot is bound to repeat itself. It's a prediction you have a good reason for, here a bot that knows only forty keywords. Be certain to and be sure to mean the same. Say is bound to fail, not is bound that it fails. The B2 lesson Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai teaches it with ELIZA, a 1960s chatbot that could only match keywords.
What does “likely to” mean?
Be likely to + base form means “will probably”: Readers are likely to notice the bot. Unlikely to means “will probably not”: The judge is unlikely to pick ELIZA. Only be changes with the person: I'm, she's, they're likely to. It's likely that readers will notice is right too. Can a chatbot fool you?, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, has a table of both forms for every person.
What's the difference between “bound to” and “likely to”?
It's how sure the speaker is: bound to is almost certain, likely to is probable. The bot is bound to repeat itself says it will, because it knows only forty keywords. Readers are likely to notice says they probably will. Both take to + base form. In Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai, students sort sentences into almost certain, probably yes and probably not.
Is it “a good chance that it will work” or “a good chance to it will work”?
It's there's a good chance (that) it will work. A whole clause follows chance, with its own subject and verb, and you can drop that: There's a good chance it'll write our first drafts. The same goes for the chances are: The chances are it will work, not it will to work. Several wrong replies in the chat of Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai are slips of this kind.
What was the ELIZA chatbot?
ELIZA was one of the first chatbots, written by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT in the mid-1960s and described in a paper in January 1966. It found a keyword in what the user typed and used rules to build a reply, so I am blah could become How long have you been blah? Its best-known script imitated a therapist, and its name comes from Eliza in Pygmalion. Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai explains how it worked.
Did ELIZA pass the Turing test?
No. ELIZA wasn't built for it, though Weizenbaum wrote that some people were very hard to convince it wasn't human. In a 2025 study by Cameron Jones and Benjamin Bergen, judges chatted with a person and an AI at once and named the human: ELIZA was picked only 23% of the time, one modern AI with a human persona 73%. Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai sets out what is known and debated.
How do I teach future probability to B2 students?
Put the phrases on a line from certain to unlikely, then split them by pattern: to + base form after bound, certain, sure and likely, a whole clause after chance and likelihood. Let reasons decide the choice. Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai moves from an explainer and an office argument to a scheme, five drills and a class debate on AI and jobs.
What's a good game for practicing bound to and likely to?
Play “Human or bot?”: one student writes a message, two others reply, one like a person and one like ELIZA, turning it into a question. The class guesses and says how sure it is: B is bound to be the bot. The chances are it's A. Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai has a chat version of the test and boxes that run it in class.
What's good homework for bound to and likely to?
Good homework asks for meaning as well as form: a quiz such as “There's little chance that it will snow.” What does the speaker think?, gaps built from the words in brackets and a whole text. All ten homework tasks in Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai check themselves, ending with a newsletter's summary of the office debate and Leona's answer to a college student.
How do you practice bound to and likely to one-to-one?
Swap predictions about the student's week: the teacher asks Is your train likely to be late? and What's bound to happen at work?, and the student answers with a reason, then asks back. The chat in Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai works alone: Leona sends two replies, the student spots the bot and says how sure they are.
Are there interactive exercises for bound to and likely to?
Yes. Three parts of the B2 lesson Can a chatbot fool you? on edio.ai play here without an account: the listening in which Isaiah owns up to his secret email bot, a gap-fill built from the words in brackets and Leona's “spot the bot” chat. The rest of the lesson is for account holders.
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