would be removing

[GoldfishLord]

Google, also widely used for news in Canada, said that it would be removing links to Canadian news from search, news pages and Google Discover when the law goes into effect at the end of the year.

Source: https://reutersinstitute.politics.o...-tech-smaller-publishers-are-caught-crossfire

I already asked a similar question in this forum. https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/ill-be-returning-to-the-command-ship-presently.287570/

Does "would be removing" describe an action that occurs in the near future or does it describe a scheduled/arranged action?

 

[emsr2d2]

It tells you exactly when they're going to do it - "when the law goes into effect at the end of the year".

 

[BobK]

"We are removing..." - this is something that they will do immediately
"We will be removing..." - this is something that they will do in the future
They said that they would be removing... - reported speech in the past, referring to a future intention

 

[GoldfishLord]

It seems to me that "would be removing" is not used to talk about future actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future but that it is used to talk about future events which are already fixed or decided.
What do you say?

 

[Tarheel]

It seems to me that "would be removing" is not used to talk about future actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future but that it is used to talk about future events which are already fixed or decided.
What do you say?

I have a hard time telling the difference between the two things.

 

[jutfrank]

Does "would be removing" describe an action that occurs in the near future or does it describe a scheduled/arranged action?

Yes and yes. But it doesn't have to be the 'near' future.

 

[Rover_KE]

@Marika33, please read this extract from the forum rules:

You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly in your posts.

 

[Marika33]

Not a teacher.

It seems to me that "would be removing" is not used to talk about future actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future but that it is used to talk about future events which are already fixed or decided.
What do you say?

This is a very important question. Most textbooks and other resources teach that the future continuous is used to refer to an action that will be in progress at a specific point in the future. Having learned this, students begin seeing sentences spoken or written by native speakers where there is no such point in the future. As a consequence, they (non-native speakers) start using the future continuous just for unfinished actions (to emphasize that the action will not be completed).

Like in this context:
A: What are you gonna do tonight? / What are you doing tonight? / Any plans for tonight? (etc.)
B: I'll be writing my term paper. (meaning they intend to convey: I've probably already started writing my term paper and I'm expecting it will take me at least several days or a couple of weeks, so I'm not expecting to finish it tonight or in the next few days, so I'll write I'll be writing my term paper).

English Grammar in Use, by Raymond Murphy, Unit 24, C addresses this issue and says that in this case the future continuous is used to talk about complete actions in the future.


P.S.
If anyone thinks that the example sentence from #1 has that specific point in the future (when the law goes into effect at the end of the year), I suggest they put that action (not just the sentence) in the past (keeping the continuous aspect) and check if that works.

Google, also widely used for news in Canada, said that it would be removing links to Canadian news from search, news pages and Google Discover when the law goes into effect at the end of the year.
--->
Google was removing links to Canadian news from search, news pages and Google Discover when the law went into effect at the end of that year.