He'll repair/be repairing his car from 7 to 9 pm.

Marika33

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Your husband has just told you he will start repairing his car at 7 p.m. tonight, and by 9 p.m. he will have to stop whether he has finished it or not. Does either of these work?
  • He'll repair his car from 7 till 9 p.m.
  • He'll be repairing his car from 7 till 9 p.m.
 
Whom are you speaking to? Why? (Yes, it does matter.)

Here's a context for you:

A: Hello, Mrs Marshall. I'm Tracy from Rentokill. We're calling to arrange a convenient time to disinfect your garage. Is eight o'clock this evening suitable for you?
B: Ah, that doesn't work, I'm afraid. My husband's going to be repairing his car between seven and nine tonight. Can you do nine?
 
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Whom are you speaking to? Why?
To anybody I want to, because I want to. I'm sorry, I don't think in those categories. I'm just trying to objectively describe the action I wrote about above.

Here's a context for you:

A: Hello, Mrs Marshall. I'm Tracy from Rentokill. We're calling to arrange a convenient time to disinfect your garage. Is eight o'clock this evening suitable for you?
B: Ah, that doesn't work, I'm afraid. My husband's going to be repairing his car between seven and nine tonight. Can you do nine?
Thank you. Would the future simple option also work in this context?
If so, what difference in meaning would the change make?
If not, is there a context in which the future simple option would work just fine? Can you show me one, please?
 
Does using the simple aspect in this context sound odd?

A: Hello, Mrs Marshall. I'm Tracy from Rentokill. We're calling to arrange a convenient time to disinfect your garage. Is eight o'clock this evening suitable for you?
B: Ah, that doesn't work, I'm afraid. My husband's going to repair his car from seven till nine tonight. Can you do nine?
 
To anybody I want to, because I want to. I'm sorry, I don't think in those categories. I'm just trying to objectively describe the action I wrote about above.

This is where you're going wrong.
 
Would the future simple option also work in this context?

No.

If not, is there a context in which the future simple option would work just fine? Can you show me one, please?

What do you mean? Are you asking for any context that exemplifies the future simple? You're asking for any context using will + infinitive?
 
A: Hello, Mrs Marshall. I'm Tracy from Rentokill. We're calling to arrange a convenient time to disinfect your garage. Is eight o'clock this evening suitable for you?
B: Ah, that doesn't work, I'm afraid. My husband's going to repair his car from seven till nine tonight. Can you do nine?

I wrote that context specifically to show the future continuous. Don't change it.
 
Is there a context in which the future simple option would work just fine? Can you show me one, please?
What do you mean? Are you asking for any context that exemplifies the future simple? You're asking for any context using will + infinitive?
Which part of my sentence gives the impression that I'm asking for any sentence in the future simple? I want to know this so that I will use additional or different words in the future. I thought I expressed myself clear that I was asking about the future simple version of the sentence from #1.

In other words, I'm asking for any context in which the future simple sentence "[somebody] + will (or is going to) + repair (verb in the simple aspect) + [an object] + [a period of time, framed with "from ... till ..."]" would work.
If there's none, I would assume that it's because "repair" in the simple aspect speaks of a successful outcome and therefore cannot align with the time period, framed with "from ... till ...".
 
Which part of my sentence gives the impression that I'm asking for any sentence in the future simple?

All of it.

I want to know this so that I will use additional or different words in the future. I thought I expressed myself clear that I was asking about the future simple version of the sentence from #1.

There is no future simple version. The context that I wrote in post #2 was specifically to show the future continuous, not the future simple.

In other words, I'm asking for any context in which the future simple sentence "[somebody] + will (or is going to) + repair (verb in the simple aspect) + [an object] + [a period of time, framed with "from ... till ..."]" would work.


Forget about from ... to... . Let me suggest using between ... and ... instead.

A: Can you fix my watch?
B: Yes, but not now. I'll do it sometime between nine and ten tomorrow morning.

Is that something like what you're thinking? This context makes it clear that both speaker and listener are talking about the successful completion of the task. Person A is interested only in getting her watch working again, and person B understands this.


If there's none, I would assume that it's because "repair" in the simple aspect speaks of a successful outcome and therefore cannot align with the time period, framed with "from ... till ...".

Partly, yes. It's certainly the case that the time period interferes with a faithful interpretation of whether the speaker has a telic or atelic sense of repair in mind. The specified time period biases an atelic interpretation, in my mind.
 
Forget about from ... to... . Let me suggest using between ... and ... instead.

A: Can you fix my watch?
B: Yes, but not now. I'll do it sometime between nine and ten tomorrow morning.

Is that something like what you're thinking? This context makes it clear that both speaker and listener are talking about the successful completion of the task. Person A is interested only in getting her watch working again, and person B understands this.
In the case of "between ... and ...", I see the sentence in the simple aspect as the idea that somewhere in the middle of that segment the clock will get fixed. That's, I'm afraid, absolutely not what I was asking about. I was specifically asking about the "from ... till ..." period because I see the action as being durative, that lasts literally from one moment till another, the successful outcome in this particular case does not interest me, although there may (or may not) be one.
 
In the case of "between ... and ...", I see the sentence in the simple aspect as the idea that somewhere in the middle of that segment the clock will get fixed.

Yes, that's right.

That's, I'm afraid, absolutely not what I was asking about. I was specifically asking about the "from ... till ..." period because I see the action as being durative, that lasts literally from one moment till another

Okay. So this is atelic, where the idea is not about the successful completion of the task. It's just a pure action.

I'll fix your watch from seven until nine.

Meaning: I'll spend that entire time engaged in the task of fixing your watch.

the successful outcome in this particular case does not interest me, although there may (or may not) be one.

Yes, it should interest you because it's crucial to the meaning. Using a durative phrase biases an atelic interpretation.
 
So this is atelic, where the idea is not about the successful completion of the task. It's just a pure action.

I'll fix your watch from seven until nine.

Meaning: I'll spend that entire time engaged in the task of fixing your watch.
Are you sure the simple aspect with the verb "fix" (which, I believe, is heavily telic) works with period phrases, like "from seven until nine"?
If it were that simple, I would've abandoned this issue a long time ago.

For instance, probus said (link):
No native speaker would ever say "I did my homework for forty minutes". That is what we mean by unnatural.
Then, he suggested (link) using the past continuous to make the phrase work:
Try: I was doing my homework for forty minutes
or: I worked on my homework for forty minutes.


+ Once emsr2d2 replied (link) to my question "Why did you cross out the past simple sentence?" with:
Mainly because "cooked" implies a completed action.
 
Are you sure the simple aspect with the verb "fix" (which, I believe, is heavily telic) works with period phrases, like "from seven until nine"?

It doesn't work very well, no. Also, it's a strange thing to say.
 
But if it were an atelic verb, such as "run" for example, the use of the simple aspect would be completely natural, right?
  • I'll run from seven until eight.
 
It's not a matter of 'naturalness', but yes, that would be unproblematic. The core meaning of 'run' (in the sense of moving your legs) has an implicit sense of a being durative action.

Any verb that has this kind of durative sense as part of what I call its 'core' meaning couples very easily with durative time phrases, as well as with the continuous aspect.

Think about the verb 'wait', for example. The core sense of this verb is that it happens over a period of time. It isn't a punctual action, so it would be 'problematic' to say something such as:

She waited at ten o'clock.

Now, this sentence isn't ungrammatical, and I won't say it doesn't make any sense, or that it's not 'possible' but it doesn't make good sense because the punctive aspect of the time phrase at ten o'clock interferes with the durative aspect of the verb. That's what I mean when I talk about 'interference'. When you ask whether such a sentence is possible, I think you ought to be asking whether it's unproblematic, or whether it makes good sense.

An inverse example would be to use a punctive verb with a durative time phrase:

The bomb exploded for three hours.

That doesn't make good sense, as you can easily understand. There's a problematic interference of aspect. The same kind of interference is produced when you couple a punctive verb with a continuous aspect:

The bomb was exploding.

Telic verbs are similar in a way to punctive verbs in that there is something like a punctive aspect to them. They have a sense of 'accomplishment' that is best considered as an event that happens at a point in time.

In summary, when we interpret sentences we have to contend with various kinds of aspect—the aspect of the core meaning of the verb itself, the aspect of the time phrase, and the aspect of the tense. All these contribute to meaning.
 
Thank you very much, JutFrank. I enjoyed reading it. To be honest, I can perfectly understand what you mean, and it's never been a secret to me.


Off-topic.
About this one.
The bomb exploded for three hours.

That doesn't make good sense, as you can easily understand.
I completely agree that it doesn't make any sense (at least, to me).

But recently, I found this video, in which at 1:13, it was said, "... two different Chinese jets intercepted the Canadian plane consistently for multiple hours ...".
To me, it sounded (and still sounds) just like your example with the bomb exploding for three hours. So, I decided to look it up in the dictionary to see if I didn't understand what the verb "intercept" even means. I ended up just confirming my thoughts: to me it's the most typical punctual (or telic) verb. How on earth they managed to stick "for multiple hours" in there I don't know, and likewise I don't know what they tried to mean there.
Intercepted.png
 
Yes, this Chinese jets example is a great one. You're absolutely right that that sentence is problematic, for precisely the reasons we've mentioned.

The time phrase for multiple hours initially suggests that the action is atelic, even though the simple aspect and the normally telic sense of the verb 'intercept' are both suggesting otherwise. There's significant interference here.

Thankfully, the modifying word consistently gives us something else to work with. This word could suggest that something happened repeatedly (i.e., acts of successfully completed interception) and therefore that the verb is in fact telic. So, the sentence could mean that there were multiple telic interceptions that happened over a period of multiple hours. An alternative interpretation is that there was just one long continuous incomplete attempt at interception (an atelic interpretation) and that the word consistently means 'without stopping' rather than 'repeatedly'. Which interpretation do you think is the better one? Remember that a big part of interpretation is bringing your own experience and understanding of how the world works into the mix.

It's a great example of a terrible example.
 
This word could suggest that something happened repeatedly (i.e., acts of successfully completed interception) and therefore that the verb is in fact telic. So, the sentence could mean that there were multiple telic interceptions that happened over a period of multiple hours.

An alternative interpretation is that there was just one long continuous incomplete attempt at interception (an atelic interpretation) and that the word consistently means 'without stopping' rather than 'repeatedly'.

Which interpretation do you think is the better one?
Given the explanation I saw in the Cambridge Dictionary, I would dare to assume that the better interpretation is the second of the ones that you gave, since the action did not in fact take place (it never actually occurred).
intercept.png

The time phrase for multiple hours initially suggests that the action is atelic, even though the simple aspect and the normally telic sense of the verb 'intercept' are both suggesting otherwise. There's significant interference here.
Given the significant interference we can witness in this example and the very word "continuous" that you used to desctibe the second interpretation (I highlighted it at the top), why not just use the past continuous to avoid the issue? There are so many reasons to use the past continuous in English, why wouldn't this be another one? 🤔
  • At least two different Chinese jets were intercepting the Canadian plane consistently for multiple hours during the more than eight-hour-long mission.
 
As I said, it's not a good example for the purpose of study.

As far as I know, the Chinese jets intercepted the Canadian plane in the sense that they pulled up and flew alongside it (just a few metres away) for a few hours. That's what they mean by 'interception'.
 
When a verb denoting a punctual action is used with words expressing duration, a series of repeated actions is implied;

He hopped up and down for twenty minutes.
 
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