Are they meeting today? Do they meet today?

[englishhobby]

Is this sentence natural: Are they meeting today?
Which is more natural: Do they meet today? or Are they meeting today?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Both are natural, and they mean the same thing.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, EnglishHobby:

Teachers always remind us that context is king in English. That is to say, everything depends on the particular situation.

So I believe that MAYBE (for at least some speakers) there could be a slight difference sometimes.

*****

James (telephones City Hall, the building where the city leaders work): Does the board meet today? [referring to a permanent situation]. I know that it meets once a week, but I keep forgetting on which day.

Telephone operator: No, sir. It doesn't. Today is Wednesday. The board always meets on Mondays, not on Wednesdays.

James: Oh, that's right. Now I remember. Sorry to bother you.

*****

Mona: I know that the board always meets on Mondays and that this is only Wednesday, but I heard on the news last night that the board was thinking about meeting today, too. Is the board meeting today? [referring to a temporary situation]

Telephone operator: Yes, ma'am. It is meeting at this very moment. [referring to an action in progress.] It will last for one more hour.

Mona: Thanks. I'll hurry down to City Hall because I have some business to discuss with the board members.




Sources: Michael Swan, Practical English Usage (1995); Walter Kay Smart, English Review Grammar (1940; copyright renewed in 1968).

 

[Barb_D]

I quite agree with the Parser in this question.

"Do they meet today" would refer to a recurring situation.

A: Is the Board meeting today?
B: They meet every other Friday, unless it's the fifth Friday of the month.
A: Oh, so do they meet today?
B: Um, let's see. It's certainly Friday, and... it's the fourth Friday of the month, so yeah, they do.

 

[englishhobby]

Sorry for boostering this thread again. Just a follow-up question:
He gets back tomorrow/He arrives tomorrow is quite a natural phrase in English, isn't it? (as I've been told in this forum before). But I don't think he gets back regularly, only tomorrow. Still, we use the present simple (and it's even preferrable). Why?
Maybe here we have a situation closer to timetables and schedules where the present simple is normally used?

 

[emsr2d2]

We're not using the present simple to refer to a habitual action in "He gets back tomorrow". We're using it to refer to the future.

It's nearly time for my holiday.
Ooh, lucky you. When do you go?
I go next Tuesday! I'm so excited.

I have a four-day conference in Berlin next month.
When is it?
Let me see. I go on Monday the fifteenth and I get back on Saturday the twentieth. The conference is Tuesday to Friday.

 

[Tdol]

Maybe here we have a situation closer to timetables and schedules where the present simple is normally used?

We do.