Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[leslie]

Hi,

I have a question related to tenses. I'd like to know the nuance among each of the following answer. Please read the dialogues as follows:

Jane is studying in London, and she comes from USA. This summer break is in July. And she's on the phone with her mom:

Mom: What will you do in the summer break?
Jane: 1. I will come back to USA in July.
2. I will be coming back to USA in July.
3. I am coming back to USA in July.
My questions are :
1. Does Jane's each answer here reveal different situations? Could anyone elaborate this please?
2. Can the question Mom ask be:
1. What are you going to do in the summer break?
2. What are you doing in the summer break?
3. What will you be doing in the summer break?
Again, will these questions make sense in different contexts?
Thank you very much in advance for your help.

Leslie

[Mister Micawber]

.
No real difference in any of the questions or answers in this dialogue, Leslie.

The uses of these verb forms depend partly on the speaker's conception of his or her confidence in the future event, but the fact of the matter is that native speakers overlap these uses considerably, and are inconsistent in applying them-- which happens unconsciously in any case.
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's