1.8 USING PRESENT FORMS TO TALK ABOUT

THE FUTUREPage 27

A. We can use the simple present and present progressive to talk

about scheduled events and arrangements in the future:

School starts on September 3rd this year.

The plane leaves in an hour.

The library closes at noon today.

When are we meeting this week?

Most stores are closing early tonight.

I’m leaving for London tomorrow night.

A. Notice that we almost always use a time expression to show

that we are talking about the future and not the present:

School starts on September 3rd this year.

The plane leaves in an hour.

The library closes at noon today.

When are we meeting this week?

Most stores are closing early tonight.

I’m leaving for London tomorrow night.

B. SIMPLE PRESENT VS. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

When we talk about a scheduled event that takes

place regularly, we usually usethe simple present:

When a scheduled event is temporary or changing, we

often use the present progressive:

We meet at 10 on Tuesday.Don’t forget to bring your laptop. (This means that we meet regularly at 10 every Tuesday.)

Don’t forget. We’re meeting at 9 instead of 10 this Tuesday.

Saturday’s game begins at noon. (Noon is the usual time for the Saturday games to begin.)

Why is the game starting late tonight?

C. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE VS. BE GOING TO

When we talk about personal plans and arrangements, we sometimes use the present progressive instead of going to:

We’re leaving next month. = We’re going to leave next month.

WARNING! We don’t use the present progressive to make predictions:

It’s raining tomorrow. It’s going to rain tomorrow.

D. In formal contexts, we sometimes use am/is/are + infinitive to refer to the future. This form suggests that the future event is an obligation or requirement.

I am to meet the president at 10:00. ( = I am required to meet the president at 10:00.)

The company is to announce its quarterly earnings in December. (Some rule or law requires the company to do this.