My thread that was entitled "too many problems" has been grouped as an old message. It does not appear on the first page again, so that I must start with a new one.
I don't know what has happened to the thread. The last time I post a message in the thread was last Friday. Today is Monday, and all the things I have written are gone.
I want to discuss about the following text that I took from an online news:
"Mourinho also revealed that three players will definitely be leaving the club - paving the way for the almost certain departures of Scott Parker, Mateja Kezman and Mikael Forssell."
I am talking about will+be+ing = "Mourinho also revealed that three players will definitely be leaving..." Is there any difference if it is written without using be+ing? What is the different between will+be+verb+ing and will+verb?
Thanks.
The difference is that the form "will+verb+ing" is used by advanced learners whilst "will+verb" by intermediate ones.
In terms of the meaning of the sentence, are they different?
Well, slightly; "will be <verb>ing" is future progressive, whereas "will <verb>" is just future, so hence the former indicates that something will be happening at some time in the future over some unspecified period of time, and does not refer at all to the completion of such, whereas the latter just indicates that something will happen at some point in the future, and refers neither to its happening over a period of time nor to its completion (but can imply the completion of something to some extent or another in some usages, but not as strongly as the future perfect progressive).
I still don't understant...:-(. could you please explain more?
Yeah, I searched for your thread just last night, and found that it had fallen off the main page due to lots of newer posting in new threads since then. Besides, trolls had gotten to it.
The difference in "will be verb+ing" and "will verb" is very subtle. I can't quite put my finger on it, but they're pretty close to the same.
Think of the difference between "I walk to the store" vs. "I am walking to the store." Well... it's kinda like that, but in the future! I'm sorry I can't explain it better.
"I will walk to the store" vs. "I will be walking to the store." In the first, it merely means that at some point in the future you will begin and end the action of walking. In the second, it means that at some point in the future you'll be in the process of walking.
Or maybe it's more clear with a verb like "to die." "I will die" means what it looks like it means -- pretty straightforward. However, "I will be dying" means that in the future you will be in the state of losing health and everything that goes along with passing from life to death.
Ah, more examples! Take the following:
"Let's have a picnic this evening." "Nah.. it will rain." : This means they shouldn't have a picnic because it will rain -- but when will it rain? It could rain between now and then and the ground will just be wet, or it could rain at any point during the picnic.
"Let's have a picnic this evening." "Nah.. it will be raining." : This also means that they shouldn't have a picnic because it will rain. But now it's more specific -- it will be in the process of raining during the picnic -- eliminating the option in the speaker's mind that it could merely rain between now and then. The speaker is conveying that he thinks if they were to have the picnic in the evening, it would rain during the picnic.
Hope that helps! By the way, good work with the articles. You only had one small error with regard to them: "from an online news." This should be either "from an online news SOURCE" or just "from online news" or even "from the news." The last one might be a little idiomatic, I'm not sure. But since news is sort of a vague concept, you can't nail it down with the article "an". If you specify that it is in fact a concrete "news source" then you can use "an."
Hi Gabe, thanks a lot!
About will+be+verb+ing vs will+verb+, I realize that it will take a lot of practices to fully understand that. And, thanks again about helping me in the area of the articles.
I hope that you still have patient to help me further about this one: "Mourinho also revealed that three players will definitely be leaving." (1) vs "Mourinho also revealed that three players will definitely leave." (2).
Gramatically, both are correct. But, what is the writer going to say? Because the writer use the first sentence in the news. I mean, why the writer use the first form, not the second one? I think, as a non native speaker I will think that the second form is enough to say what I mean in my mind.
Usually, I will see the following example when I learn English from an English book:
-- I will be studying when you come home -- or something like that. Using that example, it will be clearer, because there're two action, that I will be in the middle of study when my brother comes home (from his work).
Hi Gabe, I still have something to add.
This is about your example: "it will be raining". I will tend to use that sentence, when at the time of speaking, it is still raining and I predict that during the picnic the rain will still be falling.
Thanks.
new-boy, before your sentence - "Mourinho also revealed that three players will definitely be leaving the club" - was some specific timeframe mentioned? I ask because one way you can use the future progressive is for a future event that will be happening at a specifically mentioned time. For example, "He will be leaving on Monday."
Well, I gave other examples that followed the same format because quite honestly I'm having difficulty distinguishing the difference between "will be leaving" and "will leave."
Really, they're almost exactly the same. It *does* seem, though, that in that situation the "will be leaving" form is more common. It almost seems, I don't know, a *little* bit gentler. Since "will leave" lacks the feeling of process and merely states that it will happen and finish, it seems kind of abrupt, like the players will just grab their stuff and get the heck out. Whereas "will be leaving" sort of jumps the listener to that particular future moment when the players aren't gone yet, but are sort of gathering their belongings, saying their good byes, and so on. The distinction is so slight, though, it's incredibly difficult to explain. For all I know the author could have just written it that way for stylish reasons, either to provide a variety of tenses, or to match tenses somewhere else or something.
I'm not sure if there's that much rhyme or reason to it, or why I would say it the same way as the author has written it. Perhaps you should just make a mental note to use "will be leaving" whenever you're talking about this subject of ballplayers leaving their team. That might be how it works for me, I'm not sure.
As for your second post, if it's currently raining and I expect it to remain that way until the picnic, I would say "It will *still* be raining." But you're absolutely right that if the rain has already begun, then you can't say "It will rain."
And now some corrections from your posts (once again, changes in caps, deletions marked with ***):
--------------------------------------------
>>I realize that it will take a lot of practices to ...
"I realize that it will take a lot of PRACTICE to" ... (it never is plural unless you're talking about the other word spelled and said the same way that means where a doctor works. -- "all the doctors' practices are booming")
>>thanks again about helping me in the area of the articles.
"thanks again FOR helping me in the area of *** articles." (I wouldn't use "the articles" but some may) You could also say "thanks for helping me WITH articles." And you're most welcome, by the way.
>>I hope that you still have patient to help me further about this one
"I hope that you still have PATIENCE to help me further WITH this one" (of course I do! Glad to be of service.)
>>Gramatically, both are correct. But, what is the writer going to say?
This is a little confusing. It mostly says what you want it to, but the way you set it up with the first sentence, it leads naturally to a second sentence something along the lines of "But, WHICH is the writer going to USE?" The "which" follows naturally since you've narrowed it down to two specific things that the author has to choose between. Come to think of it, you could even get away with "But, which is the writer going to say?"
>>Because the writer use the first sentence in the news.
"Because the writer USES the first sentence in the news."
>>I mean, why the writer use the first form, not the second one?
"I mean, why DOES the writer use the first form, not the second one?"
>>I think, as a non native speaker I will think that the second form is enough to say what I mean in my mind.
"I think, as a non native speaker I WOULD think that the second form is enough to say what I mean in my mind." or even better: "I think, as a non native speaker, that the second form WOULD BE enough to say what I mean in my mind."
That's all for now! I'm going to bed now (It's a little after midnight my time. It seems that our days are almost opposite.) If you have any more questions, fire away! I'll try to help. And just out of curiosity, what's your native language?