[Grammar] will be doing

Hello,

could you please tell me whether the following sentences are correct:

1) I know that he will be coming tomorrow.
2) Tomorrow at this time they will be reaching the top of the mountain.

Thank you in advance.

Both are fine. Here are my ideas:

WILL be (do)ing (‘Future Progressive').

The modal WILL followed by the durative(progressive) infinitive be ....-ing can have two possible overtones, both stemming from the combination of the ideas of certainty (WILL) and limited duration (progressive form).

The first possibility is that the speaker is describing a situation already begun, having duration, and not completed by the time mentioned or implied. This would be explicit in:

At 5 o’clock tomorrow George will be driving down the M1.

This would cover your second sentence.

The second possibility is that the speaker is more concerned with the pure certainty of the action happening than any volitional aspect that might be implied by the use of WILL by itself.

I’ll be seeing Mary tomorrow. I'll ask her about the arrangements then.

It is claimed by some writers, with some justification, that the use of WILL be....-ing implies, by its lack of reference to intention, volition or arrangement, a 'casual' future.

This covers your first sentence.

Depending on the context and co-text, the speaker may be intending a ‘casual’ futurity, or may be indicating a situation in progress at a particular time.

From: Ways of Expressing the Future in English

So are my sentences correct? If it's not duration that's important, but someone's plans for the nearest future, (The picture I've enclosed here is too small, but it reads that if you are talking about events that will happen as part of a plan or schedule, you may use Future Progressive for scheduled events, e.g. The party will be starting at twelve.)

So, is the sentence "I know that he will be coming tomorrow" all right if I want to say: he is planning to come tomorrow and I know about it?

And what about the second sentence (about reaching the top of the mountain)? Does it sound natural?

englishhobby said:

So are my sentences correct?

Click to expand...

My words "Both are fine" in post #2 are the answer to that.

If it's not duration that's important, but someone's plans for the nearest future, (The picture I've enclosed here is too small, but it reads that if you are talking about events that will happen as part of a plan or schedule, you may use Future Progressive for scheduled events, e.g. The party will be starting at twelve.)

Click to expand...

I don't place so much emphasis on the words 'plan' or 'schedule' but my words on the 'casual' future as "more concerned with the pure certainty of the action happening than any volitional aspect that might be implied by the use of WILL by itself" carry a similar message.

So, is the sentence "I know that he will be coming tomorrow" all right if I want to say: he is planning to come tomorrow and I know about it?

Click to expand...

Yes

View attachment 1349

Click to expand...

Please credit your sources. Apart from it being courteous to do so, copyright laws are stringent. If we quote somebody, or post an extract from somebody's book, we must acknowledge the author.

5jj said:

Please credit your sources. Apart from it being courteous to do so, copyright laws are stringent. If we quote somebody, or post an extract from somebody's book, we must acknowledge the author.

Click to expand...

View attachment 1349

Click to expand...

Sorry, it's from Oxford Practice Grammar Intermediate by John Eastwood.