What's the difference between "He is coming here tomorrow." and "He will come here tomorrow."
xmllmx
I think the following two sentences have almost the same meaning:
1, "He is coming here tomorrow."
2, "He will come here tomorrow."
However, I don't know which one I should choose to exactly express my
mind.
What is the subtle difference between the two?
Many thanks in advance.
Eric Walker
> I think the following two sentences have almost the same meaning:
>
> 1, "He is coming here tomorrow."
>
> 2, "He will come here tomorrow."
>
> However, I don't know which one I should choose to exactly express my
> mind.
>
> What is the subtle difference between the two?
English does not have a true future-tense form. #1 above is the older
way of expressing futurity, and is best used when--as in the example--
there is some ancillary indication of the futurity ("tomorrow"). A
second form of expressing futurity, using auxiliaries, evolved later;
#2 above is a good specimen. There are potential problems for the
unwary associated with this form, which depend on the use of "shall"
or "will" as the auxiliary, but in the given example simple futurity
is correctly expressed.
There is little to choose from as to those two methods; the subtlety,
if there is one, would be in obtaining felicity with the context.
Which form seems to go better with the surrounding text would be the
determinant.
Steve MacGregor
> I think the following two sentences have almost the same meaning:
> 1, "He is coming here tomorrow."
> 2, "He will come here tomorrow."
> However, I don't know which one I should choose to
> exactly express my mind.
>
> What is the subtle difference between the two?
The first is in the present tense, used to express future time. This
often expresses an *intention* on someone's part, in this case, the
intention of the person who is coming. The speaker is expressing
someone else's intention.
The second is in the future tense[1], used to express a prediction of
the future. The speaker is expression his own opinion.
There is also a progressive future, expressing a continued or repeated
action: "will be" plus the present participle.
--
Stefano
[1] Some people will try to tell you that English has no future tense,
but that's just because it takes more than a single word to express
it: "will" or "shall"[2] plus the bare infinitive.
[2] The difference between the use of "will" and "shall" would make a
nice chapter in a grammar book.
CyberCypher
> Hi experts,
>
> I think the following two sentences have almost the same meaning:
Yes, they do in most cases.
> 1, "He is coming here tomorrow."
>
> 2, "He will come here tomorrow."
>
> However, I don't know which one I should choose to exactly express my
> mind.
>
> What is the subtle difference between the two?
If there is a nuance that differentiates them, it will have to be in
where the emphasis lies. If spoken and compared, these sentence can
easily have a meaning difference. If the speaker stresses "will" in #2,
it can mean either that the speaker insists that he will have to come
tomorrow or that the speaker is emphasizing her firm belief that he
will come tomorrow. If "is" is #1 is stressed, it merely emphasizes the
speaker's belief that he will come tomorrow; however, there is always
someone who can create a context in which anything said in English can
mean anything they want it to mean, so I, too, can come up with such a
context, but I won't bother to delineate it.
In written form, there is no apparent difference in meaning for me.
Context might give a clue to the possibility of a particular nuance,
however.
These are rather formal ways of writing these two sentences. For dialog
or informal writing, it'd be normal to use contractions:
1, "He's coming here tomorrow." or "He's coming tomorrow." I don't
think the "here" is necessary.
2, "He'll come here tomorrow." or "He'll come tomorrow." I don't think
the "here" is necessary.
Another thing to look at is whether the sentence is the answer to a
specific question. If so, then it should, IMHO, use the same structure
as the question.
A: When is he coming here?
B: He's coming (here) tomorrow.
C: When will he come here?
D: He'll come (here) tomorrow.
OTOH, in both cases, the normal way to answer, in spoken English at
least, is just "Tomorrow". Written English is usually different from
spoken English because it's often necessary to provide context
unnecessary in an oral conversation.
Choose either one "to exactly express [your] mind". I doubt that there
will be any problem understanding that by tomorrow you expect him to
have arrived where you are.
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.
Cynical by nature, by habit, and by choice.
Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
"It has come to my attention that my opinions are not universally
shared; ergo, they are not in the public domain." Anymouse.
Adrian Bailey
news:730593e1-5aeb-4400...@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 12, 8:03 pm, xmllmx <xml...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I think the following two sentences have almost the same meaning:
>> 1, "He is coming here tomorrow."
>> 2, "He will come here tomorrow."
>> However, I don't know which one I should choose to
>> exactly express my mind.
>>
>> What is the subtle difference between the two?
> The first is in the present tense, used to express future time. This
often expresses an *intention* on someone's part, in this case, the
intention of the person who is coming. The speaker is expressing
someone else's intention.
> The second is in the future tense[1], used to express a prediction of
the future. The speaker is expression his own opinion.
In British English, (2) is rarer than (1). The number of Google hits are:
When is/When's he coming 147
When will he come 63
He is/He's coming here 154
He will/He'll come here 87
Go and read some of those hits (the ones from modern texts) to get a feel
for the difference. A good one is "I only think he will come here as a last
resort." In that case, no decision has been made. If it were "I only think
he is coming here as a last resort," a decision would already have been
made.
> There is also a progressive future, expressing a continued or repeated
action: "will be" plus the present participle.
"He'll be coming here tomorrow" doesn't express a continued or repeated
action.
> [1] Some people will try to tell you that English has no future tense,
And they're right. :-)
> but that's just because it takes more than a single word to express
it: "will" or "shall"[2] plus the bare infinitive.
Partly, but also because calling the "will" form the future tense misleads
students into using that form inappropriately.
> [2] The difference between the use of "will" and "shall" would make a
nice chapter in a grammar book.
Why the "would"? Have you never seen a grammar book?
Adrian
Peter Moylan
> On Feb 12, 8:03 pm, xmllmx <xml...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I think the following two sentences have almost the same meaning:
>
>> 1, "He is coming here tomorrow."
>
>> 2, "He will come here tomorrow."
>
>> However, I don't know which one I should choose to exactly express
>> my mind.
>>
>> What is the subtle difference between the two?
>
> The first is in the present tense, used to express future time. This
> often expresses an *intention* on someone's part, in this case, the
> intention of the person who is coming. The speaker is expressing
> someone else's intention.
Hold on, you have that back to front. "He is coming tomorrow" is a
simple prediction. If you want to express intention, you have to use the
auxiliary verb "will". Historically, "He will come" = "He wishes to
come". Many present-day speakers don't know or don't remember that, but
it's still true that "will" is appropriate when expressing a wish or an
intention, and "shall" is appropriate when expressing an obligation. If
you want a simple future, without the subtleties added by using
auxiliaries, use the present tense.
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
Mark Brader
> > 1, "He is coming here tomorrow."
> > 2, "He will come here tomorrow."
Eric Walker writes:
> English does not have a true future-tense form.
Only for a restricted technical meaning of "tense". In the ordinary
use of the word, 2 is in the future tense.
The rest of Eric's answer is equally useless, as it discusses the
origins of the two forms rather than the differences between them.
However, I don't think I can explain the difference very well either.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Here I sit, ego the size of a planet..."
m...@vex.net | --Steve Summit (after Douglas Adams)
Ian Noble
Sorry, but we already know well that the niceties of usage of "will"
and "shall" are not remotely universals in the English-speaking world.
In this case, you're using them to draw a conclusion opposite to my
own experience. In BrE the second construction is less common, to the
point where, if I were to hear it, I would be likely to take it as a
moderately fervent statement about the speaker's beliefs or hopes as
to the future. The first is what I would normally expect to hear, and
by consequence far more ambivalent - a statement about the third
party's intent, or a rather less certain statement about the speaker's
understanding.
Cheers - Ian
(BrE - Yorks., Notts., Hants.)
monaom...@gmail.com
This answer what should be the question?
Athel Cornish-Bowden
> Am ask if he will come here tomorrow
> This answer what should be the question?
However, the answer to the question in your subject line (What's the
difference between "He is coming here tomorrow" and "He will come here
tomorrow"?) is that they mean the same. Which you use might be
significant if you had a good grasp of English, but that doesn't apply
to you.
--
athel