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Hachi8 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

present continuous tense

What do you think if someone says "Dinner is being ready."? Once I thought it'd be a kind of future tense like "Dinner is about to be ready.", but I don't know what it exactly means. Could you help me?
  

Top answer

"Dinner is being ready" is not natural English. "Dinner is about to be ready" is more feasible, but doesn't feel the most natural to me either. I would say "Dinner is almost/nearly ready".

— GPY

  • "Dinner is being ready" is not natural English.
  • "Dinner is about to be ready" is more feasible, but doesn't feel the most natural to me either.
  • I would say "Dinner is almost/nearly ready".
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6 Answers
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"Dinner is being ready" is not natural English.

"Dinner is about to be ready" is more feasible, but doesn't feel the most natural to me either. I would say "Dinner is almost/nearly ready".
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hachi8"Dinner is being ready."
If you feel like using the present continuous tense and want to give the listener the idea that the action is in progress, use a verb, for eg: 'cook' or 'prepare'.

- Dinner is being cooked.

Or
- Dinner is being prepared.
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Thank you, GPY and Laborious :}}
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Then I have one more question. Is "Dinner is going to be ready (soon)." within the range of natural English?
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hachi8Then I have one more question. Is "Dinner is going to be ready (soon)." within the range of natural English?
"Dinner is going to be ready soon" is fine.

"Dinner is going to be ready" seems a bit vague in isolation. It would be OK in a context that explains when it will be ready.

— The Smiths are arriving in only ten minutes!
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Dinner will be ready soon, or dinner will be served soon.
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