"Tonight"

[Rachel Adams]

Hello.
Is it wrong to use the simple present because of the word "tonight"? Is it also one of the signal words of the progressive like "today" and "this week"?
"What are we having for dinner tonight?" The sentence is from an online test.

 

[Rover_KE]

"What are we having for dinner tonight?" is fine.

 

[Rachel Adams]

"What do we have for dinner tonight?" is unnatural in most contexts.

Is it a signal word?

 

[Rachel Adams]

Signal for what? The word can refer to the evening or night to come, the time of speaking, or a time recently past - among other things.

At the risk of being incredibly tedious, I will say again.what we have said so many times: Context is important.

Signal for the progressive as "now", "today", "this evening/week", etc are.

 

[emsr2d2]

Signal for the progressive as "now", "today", "this evening/week", etc are.

Those words don't signal a requirement for the progressive (continuous).

I'm having vegetable stew for dinner this evening.
Sorry, I can't go for a drink. I have my Italian class this evening.
I used to have a black cat but now I have a tabby cat.
I'll meet you in an hour. I'm having my hair cut now.
She's picking her new car up today.
He has five hours of maths homework today.

 

[Rachel Adams]

Sorry, I can't go for a drink. I have my Italian class this evening.

I understand the second sentence to mean I don't usually have classes in the evenings but this evening I do.

 

[emsr2d2]

I understand the second sentence to mean I don't usually have classes in the evenings but this evening I do.

That's not correct. Someone with an evening class tonight probably has one on the same evening every week.

 

[Tdol]

You can use other forms too:

I had a shave today.
I haven't had a shave today.