Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SpecialK]

Is there any need for the word "will" in this sentence.

Monday is the day when we will arrive.
or is it correct like this:
Monday is the day when we arrive.

If anyone could answer this that would be great and even explain why. My boss sometimes asks questions like this and sometimes I'm not 100% sure. Both ways sound fine to me. I told her to use the first case.

Thanks!

[mack the knife]

She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes...

No, you don't need "will".

[turtlepi1]

I also have one of these bosses.
Except mine hits me with these on an hourly basis.

If I feel it is a legitimate question then I look through some of the books if I am not sure, but if I feel he is being an ass that is trying to show intellectual superiority I've started calling him on it.

For instance, with the question you asked, if I assumed he was being an ass I would ask for an example where you would say either one.

And then I would say, ah nice but to be honest I believe a native speaker would say...

We'll arrive on Monday.
We will arrive on Monday.
We arrive on Monday. (though it might have a slightly different meaning I think)

Which may (in my boss's case) shut him up long enough for me to find an explanation...

Don't feel too bad about not being an expert on these grammar points otherwise what would be the point in continuing education? You are doing your best and seeking answers that is all you can do...you have nothing to appologise for.

When it comes to a lot of these things make bigger sentences and build sentences around them. Alone they are hard to solve but in context the answer usually provides itself...(though not always the answer why...)

Make google your friend...not only for reseach but plug in the phrase in quotes and see some related sentences used in an actualy context.

For example yeasterday the boss asked me about "bumped onto a wall". I'm always cautious when he asks me these questions so I said as a North American native speaker that sentence is not correct. (we were actually talking about the differences in "in" and "on") I had a sneaking suspicion that non-north americans use (in/on/at) differently and a quick google of the phrase returned results using "bumped onto".

The one that drives me nuts is "at the weekend"...uggg...
I had a Russian student who always asked me what I did "at the weekend.
I would always point out..."on the weekend" (this was when I was teaching computers not ESL....) I was a little embarrassed years later when I realized that Brits used "at the weekend" and that was where he had learned English...

Sorry I couldn't have been more help with your specific grammar point..

[Grotto]

Monday is the day we arrive. Is a statement!

Monday is the day we will arrive. Sounds like the response to a question.

[some waygug-in]

Context is everything. You can't derive some hard and fast rules about a single sentence without knowing the context it came from. I have a particular student who has been driving me nuts with these exact type of questions every day.

The hardest thing for him to understand, it seems, is that the same sentence can have different meanings depending on the context.

We arrive on Monday. - a statement of a planned itinerary.

We will arrive on Monday. Could be the same thing, or it could be a response to the following:

"I don't think it's possible for us to get there before Wednesday."

In which case it becomes a command or emphatic statement.

[J.B. Clamence]

"Will" is sometimes used to state a future occurance or situation. For example:

Bob will be at the party tonight.

Thus, this sentence is OK:

We will arrive on Monday. (because it is a future occurance)

Present Simple Tense can be used to describe a future event which is scheduled. For example:

The plane arrives at 10:00 tomorrow.
Our train leaves on Monday.

Thus, this sentence is also OK:

We arrive on Monday. (because it is part of a schedule)

In short, both are acceptable because each follows correct grammar, although they follow different grammar rules.