"I'm really looking forward to our week with you and the kids in July"

[milan2003_07]

In Oxford_English_Grammar_Course_Advanced by Michael Swan there is the following sentence (he explains the use of the Present Progressive and Present Simple Tenses):

"I'm really looking forward to our week with you and the kids in July".

The book says that this usage means an informal and friendly context. I've heard before that the use of Present Progressive with "to look forward to doind something" implies that you're waiting for it very willingly and you've probably been waiting for it for a long time. To me the difference between

"I'm really looking forward to our week with you and the kids in July"
and
"I really look forward to our week with you and the kids in July"

is that you reveal more impatience and desire in the first situation. However, Michael Swan is speaking about friendliness and an informal context.

What do you think?

 

[jutfrank]

"I'm really looking forward to our week with you and the kids in July"

"I really look forward to our week with you and the kids in July"

 

[milan2003_07]

"I really look forward to our week with you and the kids in July"

Why don't you like this sentence?

 

[tedmc]

The continuous tense suggests a continuous, on-going feeling.

 

[emsr2d2]

If whoever "you and the kids" are and the speaker spend a week together every July, the simple present is possible to express a habitual feeling.

I always look forward to our week with you and the kids in July.

This expresses that, every year, before July, the speaker eagerly anticipates the forthcoming annual event.

 

[jutfrank]

Why don't you like this sentence?

It's in the wrong aspect. You need the present continuous.

In more formal letter writing, we use the simple aspect ('I look forward') but in informal spoken English, in the context you have in mind, use the continuous.