future arragements

[PINKGREAT]

Hello, teachers.

In one publication I have read that present continuous is used talking about future arragements. Did they mean 'to be going to do something'?

Thanks in advance,

Pinkgreat

[rewboss]

No, they mean quite simply the present continuous.

I am leaving tomorrow for a short break. My wife and I are having a weekend away in a place called Merseburg. We are staying in a hotel near the castle.

English has a very complicated system of talking about future events. It works something like this:

1. We decide to do something. At the moment we make that decision, we use the modal verb "will":

"I have an idea. Let's have a little holiday at the end of October. I'll book the hotel."

2. If we made the decision in the past, but we still haven't acted on that decision, we use the "going to" construction:

"Have you booked the hotel yet?" -- "No, I'm going to do it this evening."

3. Once everything is arranged -- the hotel is booked, the train tickets have been bought -- we use the present continuous.

That's not all. We also use "will" when we're making predictions: "I think Argentina will win the next World Cup." We also use "going to" when we can see that something is about to happen very, very soon: "There's a hole, and he's not paying attention -- he's going to fall down that hole." And when we're talking about events that have been arranged by somebody else and we mention a time, we sometimes use the present simple: "Our train leaves at 8.26 am."

[PINKGREAT]

Thanks.