future tense

Question

Wang (take) me to the theater tonight.The answer is 'is taking'.I really can't understand this... Why does 'is taking' refer to a future tense?

Philip · Accepted Answer

rpsh **** (take) me to the theater tonight.The answer is 'is taking'.I really can't understand this... Why does 'is taking' refer to a future tense?

We often use the present continuous to refer to actions that are in the near future.

Fivejedjon · Answer

The present progressive is often used for a future arrangement. It refers to a future time, not a future tense.

Philip · Answer

fivejedjonThe present progressive is often used for a future arrangement. It refers to a future time, not a future tense.

Good distinction to make!

CalifJim · Answer

rpshWhy does 'is taking' refer to a future tense?

As mentioned above, it expresses future time. It's not a future tense. That's the tense with "will".

We're going to the museum tomorrow.
Laura and Jerry are flying to Chicago next week.
I'm taking a physics course next semester.

CJ

Fivejedjon · Answer

CalifJim It's not a future tense. That's the tense with "will".

Even the form with 'will' is not a future tense. 'Will' is simply one of the modals. Like the other modals, it can be used to refer to present and future situations.

Fivejedjon · Answer

Present Progressive/ (Continuous)

This tense/aspect is used when the speaker wishes to indicate that the situation spoken of has duration, and that that duration is limited, i.e. it has a beginning and end. Precisely when the beginning and end are may not be important, but the fact that they are there, and are not considered remote in time are important. Consider these three utterances:

1. I am writing some notes on the English Future.
2. I am meeting my wife at the pub this evening.

In [1], the limited duration of the writing is clearly understood from the context, (as is, incidentally, the fact that the action is going on at the moment of speaking). I, the speaker, can say [2] because I know that my wife and I arranged the meeting this morning. The arrangement to meet has limited duration – it began this morning and ends when we actually meet. Considered this way, it can be useful to think of this form as indicating an arrangement.

BE going to

Forms with BE going to possibly originated in such utterances as:

43 We are going to meet George at the stadium,

uttered when we were literally going, i.e. on the way, to the meeting. At the moment of speaking there was present evidence of the future meeting. This use has become extended to embrace any action for which there is present evidence – things do not have to be literally moving. Consider now these two utterances:

4. Look at those black clouds. It's going to snow.
5. Pat is going to fly to Phuket next week.

In [4] the present evidence is clear – the black clouds. In [5], the present evidence may be the flight ticket that Pat has just shown the speaker, or it may simply be the knowledge in the speaker's mind that s/he has somehow acquired. This explains why, when the grammatical subject of the verb is capable of planning, there may be little practical difference between the use of the 'Progressive’ form and the BE going to form. However, with a grammatical subject incapable of planning, there is a difference:

6. I am meeting my wife at the pub this evening.
6a. I am going to meet my wife at the pub this evening.
7. It's going to snow.
7a. It's snowing.
7b. *~~It's snowing tomorrow~~.

In [6] the speaker has made the arrangement. In [6a] the speaker may have made the arrangement (the present evidence), he may just have been informed by his wife (the present evidence), or may have recently made a plan (the present evidence). The circumstances surrounding the situations in [6] and [6a] differ, but the practical result is the same; the speaker has free choice between the two forms. Neither is ‘better, ‘more appropriate’ or ‘more correct’.

In [7], the present evidence is something like the presence of black clouds, or the speaker's knowledge of the weather forecast. In [7a], it is impossible for an arrangement to be made for future snow, and therefore the progresive form used here cannot be referring to future arrangement. The context therefore informs us that snow is actually falling as the utterance is made. The addition of a time-indicator cannot make the impossible possible, and [7b] is therefore not a possible utterance.

The Present Simple

This can be used for things that are seen as part of a fixed schedule

8. I arrive in Berlin at 08.45 tomorrow.

Some writers refer to this as the ‘scheduled’ or ‘timetabled future’ use of the tense, and it is true that we cannot use the unmarked tense for things that are not seen as a ‘fact’ – i.e. are not on some sort 0f fixed schedule. We would not say

9* ~~It rains soon~~.

The Modal WILL

WILL is a modal and, like the other modals, has two core meanings. The two meanings of the modals are:

(a) the 'extrinsic' meaning, referring to the probability of the event/state
(b) the 'intrinsic' meaning, reflecting such concepts as: ability, certainty, necessity,
obligation, necessity, permission, possibility, volition, etc.

The extrinsic meaning of WILL is exemplified in:

10. Luke left three hours ago, so he will be in London by now.
11. There will be hotels on the moon within the next 50 years.
12. The afternoon will be bright and sunny, though there may be rain in the north.

In all three examples, the speaker suggests 100% probability, i.e. absolute certainty. (MAY would imply possibility, MUST logical certainty, to take examples of two other modals). Note that while certainty in [11] and [12] is about the future, in [10] it is about the present. It is the absolute certainty, in the minds of speaker/writer and listener/reader, that can give the impression that forms using ‘the WILL future’ are some way of presenting ‘the future as fact’. Some writers therefore call this form ‘the Future Simple’. Weather forecasters, writers of business/scientific reports, deliverers of presentations, etc, frequently use WILL, and students who encounter more English through reading native writers than hearing native speakers informally may, mistakenly, assume that it is a 'neutral' or 'formal' future. In fact the particular native writer or speaker is simply opting to stress certainty rather than arrangement, plan or present evidence.

The intrinsic meaning of WILL is exemplified in:

13. I'll carry your bag for you.
14. Will you drive me to the airport, please?
15. Peter will leave his mobile switched on in meetings. It's so annoying when it rings.

These examples show what we might loosely call volition, the willingness or determination of the subject of the modal to carry out the action. Note that [15] is not about the future, and in [13] and [14] the futurity is incidental. It is context rather than words which gives the meaning.

WILL be (do)ing

The modal WILL followed by the progressive infinitive be ....-ing can have two possible overtones, both stemming from the combination of the ideas of certainty (WILL) and limited duration (progressive form).

The first possibility is that the speaker is describing a situation already begun, having duration, and not completed by the time mentioned or implied. This would be explicit in:

16. At 5 o’clock tomorrow George will be driving down the M1.

The second possibility is that the speaker is more concerned with the pure certainty of the action happening than any volitional aspect that might be implied by the use of WILL by itself. This idea can be illustrated more clearly in the following examples. If someone says I'd like to know what Andrea thinks about this, responses might be:

I'll see her tomorrow; I'll ask her.
I'm seeing her tomorrow. I'll ask her.
I'm going to see her tomorrow. I'll ask her.
I’ll be seeing her tomorrow. I'll ask her.

In all four examples, the I'll ask her indicates the speaker's willingness (confirmed by the context). In the first half of the utterance, [17] can indicate the speaker's willingness to see her, [18] the speaker's knowledge of an arrangement already made to see her, [19] the speaker's awareness of present evidence of the future meeting and [20] the speaker's simple presentation of the fact of the future meeting. It is claimed by some writers, with some justification, that the use of WILL be....-ing implies, by its lack of reference to intention, volition or arrangement, a 'casual' future.

Which Form?

The approach to ways of expressing to futurity outlined in the sections above means that students are far freer to choose for themselves the future form they wish than may appear in some grammars and course books. Far more possible utterances are acceptable than is implied by many gap-fill exercises.

CalifJim · Answer

fivejedjonPresent Progressive/ (Continuous) This tense/aspect is used when ...
... than is implied by many gap-fill exercises.

Well. I guess you told ME.

CJ

Fivejedjon · Answer

I do get a little carried away sometimes.

Rpsh · Answer

Wow, so detailed! It seems I should convert the notion that 'will' is equal to 'futurity'. Thank you so much!

Rpsh · Answer

So concise and comprehensive! Thank you so much!

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