is going on a picnic

[keannu]

Judging from the context, "is going on a picnic" seems to denote the present progressive, but can "be going on something" denote the future sometimes?

65)Nicole is going on a picnic with her boyfriend. It's his birthday today, so she promised she would take care of everything. She got up so early to make a picnic basket, which included kimbab, fruit,,,Her boyfriend looks happy to see all the food, especially the kimbab- it's his favorite. She wishes him a happy birthday and says that she hopes he enjoys what she made this morning...

 

[emsr2d2]

It denotes the future more often than not, as in "I am going on a picnic with my boyfriend next week" or "I am going on a picnic with my best friend in two hours". In the example you quoted, it's a story which has been written in the present tense. We begin (presumably) on the morning of his birthday but, at that point, the picnic is still in the future, albeit simply a little later in the day.

 

[billmcd]

Judging from the context, "is going on a picnic" seems to denote the present progressive, but can "be going on something" denote the future sometimes?

65)Nicole is going on a picnic with her boyfriend. It's his birthday today, so she promised she would take care of everything. She got up so early to make a picnic basket, which included kimbab, fruit,,,Her boyfriend looks happy to see all the food, especially the kimbab- it's his favorite. She wishes him a happy birthday and says that she hopes he enjoys what she made this morning...

Present progressive/continuous is typically used to refer to a future action when it is used with a time reference, e.g. today, next week etc.

 

[keannu]

There is no future adverb like "today" or "tomorrow" after "her boyfriend" in the first sentence, and the next sentences have past verbs like "promised" and "got up". And moreover, "Her boyfriend looks" has a present tense, so "is goinig on a picnic" feels like a present tense, but they wouldn't say it as progressive for such a state. I'm still not sure despite your good explanation.

Nicole is going on a picnic with her boyfriend. It's his birthday today, so she promised she would take care of everything. She got up so early to make a picnic basket, which included kimbab, fruit,,,Her boyfriend looks happy to see all the food

 

[MikeNewYork]

There is no future adverb like "today" or "tomorrow" after "her boyfriend" in the first sentence, and the next sentences have past verbs like "promised" and "got up". And moreover, "Her boyfriend looks" has a present tense, so "is goinig on a picnic" feels like a present tense, but they wouldn't say it as progressive for such a state. I'm still not sure despite your good explanation.

Nicole is going on a picnic with her boyfriend. It's his birthday today, so she promised she would take care of everything. She got up so early to make a picnic basket, which included kimbab, fruit,,,Her boyfriend looks happy to see all the food

The scene is in present tense. The picnic will be later that day.

 

[emsr2d2]

There is no future adverb like "today" or "tomorrow" after "her boyfriend" in the first sentence, and the next sentences have past verbs like "promised" and "got up". And moreover, "Her boyfriend looks" has a present tense, so "is goinig on a picnic" feels like a present tense, but they wouldn't say it as progressive for such a state. I'm still not sure despite your good explanation.

Nicole is going on a picnic with her boyfriend. It's his birthday today, so she promised she would take care of everything. She got up so early to make a picnic basket, which included kimbab, fruit,,,Her boyfriend looks happy to see all the food

Let's say the writer is writing the story at 10am on the day of the birthday so all presents, futures and simples stem from 10am that day.

Nicole is going on a picnic with her boyfriend (she will be leaving to go on the picnic later than 10am so present progressive is used to denote the future).
It's his birthday today (all day on the day of writing so present simple is used.)
She promised she would take care of everything (at some point before his birthday she made this promise so past simple is used.)
She got up early to make a picnic basket (perhaps she got up at 7am, which precedes 10am, the time of writing, so past simple is used.)
Her boyfriend looks happy to see all the food (this is the only one I find a little unnatural, but we can assume that she showed him the picnic basket while the piece was being written so the present simple is possible.)