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Domago Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Future continuous

Hi, is it correct to say:
Smith is a criminal. If we don't punish him, he will be committing more crimes. 

I know that I could say "he will commit". Is present continuous correct here?
  

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7 Answers
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My suggestion would be to use the simple future tense: "...he will commit more crimes."
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domagoIs present continuous correct here?
While it is grammatically correct, it's inappropriate in my opinion. You want to say what the general result will be. The future continuous is more appropriate when giving a description of a more definite future activity.

CJ
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domagoIs present continuous correct here?
Take Jim's advice. Helsinki English has its imperfections, especially when I post in a hurry at midnight!
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Thank you for your help. I was just curious. I'm not a native speaker and I was taught that simple tenses should be used in such cases, but on many American forums I saw sentences like: "he won't be committing more crimes". My guess is that they weren't correct. Maybe this was just informal style.
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Thank you all for help.
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AnonymousI saw sentences like: "he won't be committing more crimes".
But that wasn't a sentence with an if clause, was it?

In any case, you're right to think of it as more informal.

CJ
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