present simple or present continuous to express the future

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lapetitebiquette

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Mar 28, 2010
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Hello

I am learning about the different tenses that we can use to express the future and in my book it says that:

- present continuous to express arrangements made before the moment of speaking: ex. Are they installing the new computers next week?

- present simple for timetables, arrangements and fixed events (which the speaker cannot change): ex. the bus to the science museum leaves at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning.

My question is for he following sentence:

We ................................ a press conference about our new discovery on Tuesday.

Is it correct to put either "hold" or "are holding" because it is an arrangement.

Thank you for your help
 

Eric Davis

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Feb 23, 2010
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Student or Learner
Hello

I am learning about the different tenses that we can use to express the future and in my book it says that:

- present continuous to express arrangements made before the moment of speaking: ex. Are they installing the new computers next week?

- present simple for timetables, arrangements and fixed events (which the speaker cannot change): ex. the bus to the science museum leaves at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning.

My question is for he following sentence:

We ................................ a press conference about our new discovery on Tuesday.

Is it correct to put either "hold" or "are holding" because it is an arrangement.

Thank you for your help

I'm not a teacher.

I would use present continuous, "are holding"
or
simple future, "will hold"

I suppose you could use simple present, but that feels awkward to me.
 

bhaisahab

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Apr 12, 2008
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Hello

I am learning about the different tenses that we can use to express the future and in my book it says that:

- present continuous to express arrangements made before the moment of speaking: ex. Are they installing the new computers next week?

- present simple for timetables, arrangements and fixed events (which the speaker cannot change): ex. the bus to the science museum leaves at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning.

My question is for he following sentence:

We ................................ a press conference about our new discovery on Tuesday.

Is it correct to put either "hold" or "are holding" because it is an arrangement.

Thank you for your help
In your sentence you can use "are holding", "will hold" or "are going to hold", the present simple "hold" is not good.
 

billmcd

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Mar 27, 2009
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English Teacher
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English
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United States
Current Location
United States
"Hold" does not work. The simple present can express future time when events are on a definite schedule or timetable. Only a few verbs are used in the simple present to express future time. The most common are arrive, leave, start, begin, end, finish, open, close, be.
 
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