Timeline for "Timetable future": Why are "I leave at 8 pm" & "I am leaving at 8 pm" OK but not "I eat a pizza at 6 pm" & "I am eating a pizza at 6 pm"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 1 at 21:46 | comment | added | JimmyJames | @user182601 It wouldn't sound strange in the context of say, a job e.g., "I leave work at 5:30." If you were leaving early, you might say something like "I am leaving at 4 today". The travel usage has an implicit one-time context and is more unusual. Something like "I'm having pizza [with so-and-so] at 6" isn't unusual at all. | |
| Apr 1 at 21:28 | comment | added | arp | "I am having dinner at 6 pm" sounds perfectly normal and natural; it means much the same as "I will be having dinner at 6 pm." | |
| Apr 1 at 13:52 | comment | added | Lambie | Generally, in those examples at the bottom of your question, we'd say: having a pizza with x and not eating a pizza. | |
| Apr 1 at 13:08 | comment | added | Araucaria - Him | As you can see from your examples what licences the present continuous in your cases is not quite that the examples describe your intentions, but that they describe your arrangements with other people :) As Mari-Lou points out below, the going-to future describes intentions. Hence you can say When I grow up I'm going to be a doctor but you can't say #When I grow up, I'm being a doctor. A second point is that, as also shown in Mari-Lou's post, we can use the present simple for a one-off timetabled event. For example "The inauguration of the President kicks off at 2pm" | |
| Mar 31 at 23:36 | comment | added | user182601 | Why can't the same arguments be applied to "I leave at 8pm"? E.g. This means that you do so always, regularly, habitually. It sounds strange because to [leave at 8 pm] as a regular habit sounds strange. | |
| Mar 31 at 13:55 | history | edited | rikkiinandalucia | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| S Mar 31 at 13:48 | review | First answers | |||
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| S Mar 31 at 13:48 | history | edited | rikkiinandalucia | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Mar 31 at 13:46 | history | edited | KillingTime | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| S Mar 31 at 13:45 | review | First answers | |||
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| S Mar 31 at 13:45 | history | answered | rikkiinandalucia | CC BY-SA 4.0 |