present for the future meaning

[edmondjanet]

There is no class tomorrow.
There will be no class tomorrow. Can I use present for the future meaning.
Thank you.

[emsr2d2]

There is no class tomorrow.
There will be no class tomorrow. Can I use present for the future meaning?
Thank you.

Yes.

However, please note that "to be" is the only verb where you use the present simple to represent the future. With other verbs, we use the present continuous.

I'm going to class tomorrow = I will go to class tomorrow.
He is playing football next week = He will play football next week.
They are climbing Everest in 2012 = They will climb Everest in 2012.

There is a very good play on at the theatre tomorrow evening = There will be a very good play on at the theatre tomorrow evening.

[5jj]

However, please note that "to be" is the only verb where you use the present simple to represent the future. With other verbs, we use the present continuous.
.

The present simple is not infrequently used for future events, especially in what is sometimes known as the 'sceduled'' or 'timetabled' future.:

I leave for New York next Friday.

The following note is from http://www.gramorak.com/Articles/Future.pdf

In English, as in many Indo-European languages, the so-called ‘Present’ tense functions more like a default tense; it is used when there is no need for any additional temporal or aspectual information carried by other forms. The time of the situation denoted by the present simple tense of the verb can be past [8], present [9], ‘general’ [10] or future [11]:

8. Jane tells me you've not been too well since you got back.
9. My stomach hurts.
10. I never drink alone.
11. The UN General Assembly opens in New York late this month.

Thus, in our example of Emma’s flight, if we imagine the speaker mentally seeing Emma's schedule and presenting a neutral fact, without any of the overtones suggested by other ways of expressing the future the realization will be:

Emma flies to London next week.

The futurity is shown by the context or by explicit time-markers.

[emsr2d2]

Fair point. I should go back to bed!

[Winwin2011]

Yes.

However, please note that "to be" is the only verb where you use the present simple to represent the future. With other verbs, we use the present continuous.

I'm going to class tomorrow = I will go to class tomorrow.
He is playing football next week = He will play football next week.
They are climbing Everest in 2012 = They will climb Everest in 2012.

There is a very good play on at the theatre tomorrow evening = There will be a very good play on at the theatre tomorrow evening.

Dear teacher,

I'm very confused when I read the use of " will./shall " from a famous grammar book recently. It says "Do not use I'll ...for something you decided before.

e.g I'm working tommoow.(not 'I'll work)

When I was a student, the English teachers told us to use the future tense to represent the future.

[bhaisahab]

Dear teacher,

I'm very confused when I read the use of " will./shall " from a famous grammar book recently. It says "Do not use I'll ...for something you decided before.

e.g I'm working tommoow.(not 'I'll work)

When I was a student, the English teachers told us to use the future tense to represent the future.

There is no future tense in English. We use several different ways to talk about the future, one of which is the present simple, as described by previous posters.

[Winwin2011]

I'm very confused when I read the use of " will./shall " from a famous grammar book recently. It says "Do not use I'll ...for something you decided before.

e.g I'm working tommoow.(not 'I'll work)

According to emsr2d2
I'm going to class tomorrow = I will go to class tomorrow.

I sincerelly want to know if there is any difference between the following sentences.

1) I'm working tommoow .(not 'I'll work)
2) I'm going to class tomorrow = I will go to class tomorrow.


Thanks.

[5jj]

The present continuous can suggest an arrangement that has been made for the future.
I am flying to London tomorrow.

BE + going to can suggest a future happening for which there is present evidence:
Look at those dark clouds; it's going to rain soon.
I am going to see the new Smiley film with Andrea.

The present simple can suggest somehing that is scheduled or timetabled:
President Obama flies to Moscow next week.

Will ('ll) can suggest certainty or volition:
There will be hotels on the moon by 2050
I'll drive you to the airport tomorrow.

There is a lot more boring information here: http://www.gramorak.com/Articles/Future.pdf

[Winwin2011]

http://www.gramorak.com/Articles/Future.pdf

BE (do)ING and BE GOING TO (do)

2.1. The Present Progressive (also known as the Present Continuous)

A better name for this aspect might be durative, as it is used when he 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:
Which Form?

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. However, this is not to suggest that all this is given to the student in one 30-minute "here's the truth about the future" class. All that is suggested here is that the choice of future form is less arbitrary than sometimes appears, and that teachers aware of this can refrain from over-simple 'rules' that may soon confuse the student.


Can anybody help me for the followings?


Queston 1. What does "duration is limited" mean? Can it be one month or one year?


Question 2. What does "far freer" mean? I couldn't find these words in the dictionary.


Qustion 3. What does " the choice of future form is less arbitrary than sometimes appears" mean?

[5jj]

Queston 1. What does "duration is limited" mean? Can it be one month or one year?
It can be any time period provided that it is long enough to be considered to have duration, and that its limits are set - i.e. it has a beginning and an end.

Question 2. What does "far freer" mean? I couldn't find these words in the dictionary.
Much more free.

Question 3. What does " the choice of future form is less arbitrary than sometimes appears" mean?
It sometimes appears to learners that the choice of which form to use for a future situation is not based on any reasonable/logical system. In fact there is more reason and logic in the system than may appear.