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Proto Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
(weird?) usage of present continuous.
Hi,
Can present continuous be used to mean 'intend to do sth'?
Yesterday I was watching Grey's anatomy and I encountered sth like this:
"A: Is Meredith the only person who doesn't know the size of this thing?
B: I'm telling her.
C: You can't. She's gone already."
She clearly ment 'I will tell her" or "I'm going to tell her" but I have never seen such use o present continuous.
Thanks in advance,
Proto
Can present continuous be used to mean 'intend to do sth'?
Yesterday I was watching Grey's anatomy and I encountered sth like this:
"A: Is Meredith the only person who doesn't know the size of this thing?
B: I'm telling her.
C: You can't. She's gone already."
She clearly ment 'I will tell her" or "I'm going to tell her" but I have never seen such use o present continuous.
Thanks in advance,
Proto
Top answer
Yes, it is a common future form. It expresses a definite arrangement of some kind ('I'm moving to St. Louis next year'; 'I'm meeting him for dinner at 6').
- Yes, it is a common future form.
- It expresses a definite arrangement of some kind ('I'm moving to St.
- Louis next year'; 'I'm meeting him for dinner at 6').
- It does not work for future events we cannot arrange, like: (X) 'It's raining tomorrow'.
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2 Answers
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Yes, it is a common future form. It expresses a definite arrangement of some kind ('I'm moving to St. Louis next year'; 'I'm meeting him for dinner at 6'). It does not work for future events we cannot arrange, like: (X) 'It's raining tomorrow'.
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