English Language & Usage Asked by Pete Hollow on August 6, 2021
The rule we were taught says that present continuous can be used for the future when the action implies “planning and arrangement”.
And yet if I planned to be somewhere tomorrow, I still couldn’t say:
Instead, I’d have to use the form:
Why is that? Am I missing some important distinction or nuance in the rule we were taught?
One doesn't ordinarily say
to indicate one's future location. True.
On the other hand, one doesn't ordinarily say
to indicate one's present location, either.
The problem is not with the future, nor with the rule about using progressive for future, though it's a stupid rule if it doesn't tell you that the progressive (or continuous) construction does not apply to stative predicates. And locatives are stative. Similar problems occur with other stative predicates:
The progressive construction is for Active predicates -- verbs, mostly, like go, run, sit, rent, compile, write, ..., but also behavioral adjectives like dishonest, impolite, rude, ... You can say He's being rude but not *He's being tall. So, for active predicates, you can use the progressive to indicate future time, under the appropriate circumstances.
Executive summary: Don't take grammar rules too seriously. Most of the ones in books are BS.
Answered by John Lawler on August 6, 2021
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