[Grammar] I hope you are feeling better soon. (Sure you are!)

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Hucky

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Hiya,

Please consider the following sentence:

1) I hope you are feeling better soon.

The subordinate clause is in the present continuous tense with future reference. What I cannot see, however, is why this tense has been chosen in the complement. The thing is that the present continuous signifies an arranged future, and that is the problem: How can one or more people arrange the recovery by way of hoping for it? I would have expected instead the present simple or the will future in the subordinate clause:

2) I hope you feel better soon.

3) I hope you will feel better soon.

Does anyone have a clue? (I hope you do, it will make me feel better.)

Hucky
 

5jj

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The thing is that the present continuous signifies an arranged future
1. The present progressive(or continuous) does not necessarily signify an arranged future.

'Emma's plane is landing at ten this evening - two hours late.' The 'arrangement' was for the plane to land at eight.

If they are still drinking when I get home, I shall be very angry. There is no arrangement there.

2. After hope we often use present tenses with a future meaning:

I hope he arrives soon.
I hope you are cooking dinner this evening.
I hope you have finished your homework by the time I get home.

It's not really a question of why we use a progressive form, but why we use any present tense form with hope (and bet). I have no simple answer to that.
 

Hucky

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1. The present progressive(or continuous) does not necessarily signify an arranged future.

'Emma's plane is landing at ten this evening - two hours late.' The 'arrangement' was for the plane to land at eight.

If they are still drinking when I get home, I shall be very angry. There is no arrangement there.

2. After hope we often use present tenses with a future meaning:

I hope he arrives soon.
I hope you are cooking dinner this evening.
I hope you have finished your homework by the time I get home.

It's not really a question of why we use a progressive form, but why we use any present tense form with hope (and bet). I have no simple answer to that.

Thanks! I´d like to go briefly into some of the points.

As to your first example: As far as scheduled actions are concerned, wouldn´t the present simple be more appropriate here? What is the difference between the simple and the progressive form in that context?

As to No. two: Couldn´t it be that the reason why we don´t have an arrangement here is that the present progressive is used in a temporal clause. I´m not sure but doesn´t the arrangement-meaning take effect only in main sentences, just like: I am playing tennis tonight.
Or is there something like a double arrangement, e.g.:
I am seeing him tonight when we are playing tennis. Or does it have to be: ... when we play tennis.

So, if I have got that right, it is due to the verb hope that a present tense is obligatory here.

But what would be the difference between the two versions:
I hope you are feeling better soon / you feel better soon.

Is the present progressive a more emphatic expression of that hope? What about this form then:

I hope you do feel better soon? (If it is idiomatic, at all.)

Something else baffles me: If the verb hope rules out a future tense, how then can the present progressive (feeling better soon) have a future meaning? But the adverb soon seems to be indicative of it.

Can you bring clarification into the matter?
 

giustocci

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We normally use the future simple "will" to express hopes, opinions and assumptions:


  • I hope you will feel better soon;
  • I think Chelsea will win the match.
We also use the future simple in if-clauses and time clauses:


  • If I win the lottery, I will buy a Ferrari;
  • When he arrives, I will tell him.
Notice that we don't use the future in dependent clauses, even if the meaning is future - I will win the lottery / I will buy a Ferrari.

In Hucky's example

If they are still drinking when I get home, I shall be very angry

the present continuous does not express a future arrangement or a future situation, but an action in progress at the time hypothesised in the main clause - they will still be drinking /
shall be very angry.
 

Hucky

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We normally use the future simple "will" to express hopes, opinions and assumptions:


  • I hope you will feel better soon;
  • I think Chelsea will win the match.
We also use the future simple in if-clauses and time clauses:


  • If I win the lottery, I will buy a Ferrari;
  • When he arrives, I will tell him.
Notice that we don't use the future in dependent clauses, even if the meaning is future - I will win the lottery / I will buy a Ferrari.

In Hucky's example

If they are still drinking when I get home, I shall be very angry

the present continuous does not express a future arrangement or a future situation, but an action in progress at the time hypothesised in the main clause - they will still be drinking /
shall be very angry.

I`d just like to thank you quickly.

Take care!

Hucky
 

Hucky

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Hi there,

It was just yesterday when I was told that the verb to hope is ensued by a present tense. Yet, today I spotted the following example sentence in a very reliable source, in Micheal Swan`s Practical English Usage:

"My father, who we hope will be out of hospital soon, ..."

That does baffle me! - Any solution in store?

Hucky
 

5jj

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It was just yesterday when I was told that the verb to hope is [STRIKE]ensued[/STRIKE] followed by a present tense. Yet, today I spotted the following example sentence in a very reliable source, in Micheal Swan`s Practical English Usage:

"My father, who we hope will be out of hospital soon, ..."

That does baffle me! - Any solution in store?
Yes. The person who told you that was not giving the complete story.
 

Hucky

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Yes. The person who told you that was not giving the complete story.

Yet that was no one else but you. So will you please reveal the whole story? Come out with it! Don`t beat about the bush any longer! You are keeping me on tenterhooks. It might sometimes seem a Sisyphean task, but you have to do your part in fighting ignorance.
 

5jj

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Yet that was no one else but you.
You misquoted me. I wrote, emphasis added, "After hope we often use present tenses with a future meaning. I did not in any way suggest that we do not, or cannot, use will.

In any case, your example is rather different. 'We hope' is a parenthetic thought:

My father, who (we hope) will be out of hospital soon, ...

'Is' is unlikely in that sentence, though is natural in this one:

We hope (that) my father is/will be out of hospital soon.
 

Hucky

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You misquoted me. I wrote, emphasis added, "After hope we often use present tenses with a future meaning. I did not in any way suggest that we do not, or cannot, use will.

In any case, your example is rather different. 'We hope' is a parenthetic thought:

My father, who (we hope) will be out of hospital soon, ...

'Is' is unlikely in that sentence, though is natural in this one:

We hope (that) my father is/will be out of hospital soon.

To begin with, best thanks!

I´m sorry, but I haven´t quoted that very sentence anywhere. But I´m going to present you a quotation from your first message (1) and from the current message above (2). Here they are:

1) It's not really a question of why we use a progressive form, but why we use any present tense form with hope (and bet). I have no simple answer to that.
(emphasis added by Hucky)

2)I did not in any way suggest that we do not, or cannot, use will.

Since I desist from interpreting these two statements in themselves and in their relation to each other, I´d like you to give thoughts to it. They are worth contemplating.
 

5jj

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Hucky, in post #6 you wrote: “It was just yesterday when I was told that the verb to hope is ensued by a present tense.”

In post #7 I wrote, “The person who told you that was not giving the complete story.”

In post #8 you wrote, “Yet that was no one else but you.”


Then in post #10, you wrote:


I´m sorry, but I haven´t quoted that very sentence anywhere.

This is not the first time you have tried in this forum to catch out people who give time to help people with questions about the language. You try again in the next part of post #10:


But I´m going to present you a quotation from your first message (1) and from the current message above (2). Here they are:

1) It's not really a question of why we use a progressive form, but why we use any present tense form with hope (and bet). I have no simple answer to that.
(emphasis added by Hucky)

2)I did not in any way suggest that we do not, or cannot, use will.

Since I desist from interpreting these two statements in themselves and in their relation to each other, I´d like you to give thoughts to it. They are worth contemplating.
I am not sure what games you are playing, but I shall not waste any time on them in future.
 

Hucky

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Dear leeyn,

There seems to be something missing in your message. Perhaps you can still add it. Nevertheless, best thanks!

Hucky
 

Hucky

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Dear leeyn,

There seems to be something missing in your message. Perhaps you can add it later. Nevertheless, best thanks!

Hucky
 

Hucky

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Dear fivejejon,

To cut a long story short, I respect your decision not to return to my threads. In face of that I`d like to express my gratefulness again for the time you have taken to answer my queries. You are free to leave. It is certainly better to do so. Still, I cannot understand why you are up in arms. I don´t think I have given you any reason, on the contrary, I have always treated you respectfully and decently. And if indeed I did annoy you unwittingly, or, at least, if you felt I did, I assure you that I`m sorry. But you may also take it from me that I preferred sometimes not to reply anymore because I tried not to irritate you as I had felt a snappish and peevish overtone*. I also got the impression that you felt attacked with nobody attacking you. You have always been ready to make your competence as a native speaker accessible. But you should also allow for second or third questions on the same issue if your reply hasn´t turned out to be final or consistent, if it raises further questions, or if there are authors who take different positions. Wouldn`t it be enriching to learn about them? Or are you resistant to other people`s points of view? On the contrary, I deem it a unique chance for oneself to broaden one`s limited mind. Moreover, it is a token of magnanimity to bear challenging views. How can you regard coming back to your proposition as “catching out” people? On that condition I`d rather do without your advice. Well, that´s what forums have been established for – a free exchange of different positions to learn from each other. It might be due to their occupation that the pedagogues within the guild of teachers tend to be exposed to the risk of being bad learners as they seem to know(-)all**. But we live and learn. Everybody, of course! I`m not sure whether or to what degree we´ve been talking at cross purposes. In your last contribution you cited three quotations which all miss the point. My statement: “I`m sorry, but I haven´t quoted that very sentence anywhere.” refers to your assertion: ”You misquoted me.” It is difficult for me to see how it is possible to misunderstand that. But it doesn’t matter. What can´t be cured, must be endured.

Nevertheless, all the best to you!

Hucky

* For example, to name just one instance I considered it not worth replying to something like this: “I clearly noted: ' Quirk et al (1985)'.”, taken from No. 35 of the thread “What happens if …” , which borders on the ludicrous as instead of going into Quirk´s argument you evaded by saying you meant Quirk et al. The books I quoted are written by Quirk et al. As if you didn`t know.

** Further down, in paragraphs 2 and 3 you find two quotes from No. 30 of the thread “What happens if …” The above sentence is from me, the lower is your reply. I beg your pardon, but one cannot be more mistaken as to stating such things. Does it not even occur to your mind that you might be wrong, or to study the matter before judging it? Just to give you a clue: You keep mixing up the terms rule and law. It should not be too difficult to verify this.

As we know the exception does not disprove the rule, but prove it.
You have clearly misunderstood the word 'prove' in 'the exception proves the rule'.

Thus the rule won´t get flawed in face of exceptions, but - on the contrary - confirmed.
If a rule is confirmed by exceptions, it would seem to be a pretty pointless rule.


 

5jj

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Dear fivejejon,....
I think this is the sort of thing best discussed by PM.

And yes, I admit that I should have thought about that a post or two ago.;-)

Best wishes.
 

Hucky

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I think this is the sort of thing best discussed by PM.

And yes, I admit that I should have thought about that a post or two ago.;-)

Best wishes.

Dear fivejedjon,

You see, no one should ever say that the two of us couldn`t come to terms with each other. I am happy that the initial issue has been completed with consummate satisfaction. So, I am feeling much better now. And I hope you too!

Kind regards

Hucky
 
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