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SpoonfedBaby Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
He will sit on this bench for hours.
Dear Tutors,
At my surprise, the sentence “He will sit on this bench for hours” means “It happens from time to time that he seats on this bench for hours.” It is not a sentence in the simple future tense.
I also have “He will come to school without learning his lessons” which means “It happens from time to time that he comes to school without learning his lessons.”
How can I recognize the habitual activity in them? I only see them as sentences in the simple future tense.
Thanks in advance….
Spoonfedbaby
At my surprise, the sentence “He will sit on this bench for hours” means “It happens from time to time that he seats on this bench for hours.” It is not a sentence in the simple future tense.
I also have “He will come to school without learning his lessons” which means “It happens from time to time that he comes to school without learning his lessons.”
How can I recognize the habitual activity in them? I only see them as sentences in the simple future tense.
Thanks in advance….
Spoonfedbaby
Top answer
You must look at the context and use your inherent intelligence. Both meanings-- simple future and habit-- have the identical form, as you said.
- You must look at the context and use your inherent intelligence.
- Both meanings-- simple future and habit-- have the identical form, as you said.
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6 Answers
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You must look at the context and use your inherent intelligence. Both meanings-- simple future and habit-- have the identical form, as you said.
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Yes; the context will usually be 'general'; whereas if the 'will' is a future 'will', the context will be specific. Here are some examples:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q
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Yessssssssssss [<:o)] I got it.
We can use "will" to talk about a present habit as we use "would" to talk about a past habit.
We can use "will" to talk about a present habit as we use "would" to talk about a past habit.
"Now that he prefers sitting up, again with some practice, he loves sitting in this sling. He will sit in it for hours and be happy as can be. I highly recommend it for this age!"
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Interesting. Essentially the same meaning is conveyed, but to me the will sit in it form carries more potentiality with it, where the sits in it form conveys more assuredness of the infant's behaviour. It seems that the will form for habit retains a hint of the unknowable future in it.
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Going back to your original post -- "to my surprise" is better than "at my surprise" (no logic here, just idiom).
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SpoonfedBabyWe can use "will" to talk about a present habit as we use "would" to talk about a past habit.Succinctly put.
There is a peculiar 'something' about the use of 'will' and 'would' in this way. You often find the 'would' structure in fiction, for instance, where the author describes a character's habits.
To my mind, it conveys
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