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Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me if the following sentences are correct?

1) a) Since I live (or Since I am ?) in NY I have been used to noise and pollution.

b) I have long been used to living alone.

2)a) When will you tell me about what I will / would have to do?

b) I wonder when he will finish school.

c) As long as you let me know when you WILL ARRIVE, I will come and meet you at the station. (wrong ?)

3) a) She is having a baby. (immediate future)
b) She is going to have a baby. (less immediate ?)

4) If I am as clever as you think, I should have been rich by now. (correct ?)

Would you have other examples of a mixed conditional type 1 + type 3 ?

5) a) If my father were not paying / didn’t pay my fees, I wouldn’t be studying here.

b) If my father had not paid my fees, I wouldn’t be studying here.

Thank you very much for your help.
Best regards,
1 2 3 4
1a) You require the simple present perfect here, as you are speaking of a long-lasting or permanent situation (i.e. living in NY)

Since I have lived in NY I have become accustomed to noise and pollution.

b)I think you can use the simple present here:
I am used to living alone.

2a) You can use either will or would. 'Would' is perhaps more formal and polite in the context of this request.

b) this is fine, but needs a ? at the end.

c) ......... will be arriving .......

3a) "She is having a baby". This is present progressive (or pres. continuous) and refers to a temporary action which is happening around now. So this sentence could mean that "she is having a baby now" i.e. she is actually in labour. To express the fact that she is pregnant, and will have a baby in the future, you could say "she is expecting a baby"

If you wish to refer to the future, it is probably better to say "she is going to have a baby".

b) See above.

4) Should is absolutely correct used with 'I', but we generally use "would".
the sentence is correct, though it would be more common usage to say:
"If I were as clever as you think, I would be rich by now."

5 a & b OK
I'd like to thank Hela for the nice questions, and I'm interested in the answers from Abbie.

Abbie, could you tell me the difference in nuance between the two;

(1) When will you arrive?
(2) When will you be arriving?

Thank you in advance.

An interesting question, Paco.

We can use the simple present to talk about the future, but we usually use it when we are speaking of events which are part of a regular timetable, or a routine part of our life. So:

The summer term will start on 11th April;
What time will the train arrive?
Will you be working next week?

In the example I gave to Hela, I used the future progressive (future continuous). This is formed by using shall/will + be + the 'ing' form of the verb.

We use this to say that something will be happening at a particular time in the future
e.g. I can't go out next weekend; I will be working.
By 7pm tomorrow, I will be swimming in the Carribean

We also use it to make polite enquiries about people's plans:
e.g. at an hotel, you may be asked "Will you be taking dinner tonight sir?"

So, I suppose in answer to Hela's question, it would have been better to explain the above, and indicate that in an informal situation you can say "what time will you arrive", but in a more formal situation, and where you wanted to be polite, it is better to enquire "What time will you be arriving"
Hello Abbie

Thank you a lot for the quick reply.

To tell the truth, I have made the question to confirm my vague knowledge, and I'm very happy to know your answer is in full agreement with what I learned.

What I learned is;

"When will you arrive?"
It is like the asker is impatiently asking the collocutor's volition about future event.

"When will you be arriving?"
It can be used to ask with a neutral attitude about the collocutor's future schedule.

This kind of the subtle difference between "will do" and "will be doing" is quite hard for me, an ESL student, to understand.

Anyway, I'd like to say again "THANK YOU!"

Thanks Abbie for the explanations, and thanks Paco for the compliment.

A little comment, however. I don't think that we need a ? at the end of sentence 2b) since it's an indirect question. Right?

As for the explanation you gave, Paco, for the use of "will arrive", as in sentence 2c), I don't think it has a conotation of volition. But maybe I'm wrong.

See you,
That's what's so great about this forum - the opportunity to debate and discuss opinion! I don't think I mentioned volition in my response to Paco, and I think you are right her, Hela; in q. 2c there is no conotation of volition.
Hello Hela

I'm not so sure about whether the 'will' in 'will arrive' of your 2(c) is 'will' for volitional-future. But I wondered about why Abbie had corrected it into 'will be arriving'.

Your (2c) could be paraphrased like;
"When will you arrive?" If you let me know it, I'll come and see you at the station.
I learned this question "when will you arrive?" sounds somehow a bit rude to native speaker's ears as Abbie told us.
My speculation about the reason is that the English collocations used to ask the collocutor's volition have a tone of ordering/asking something impatiently to the collocutor.
(EX) Will you be quiet?
(EX) Will you open the window?
I don't know whether I am right or not. As I told somewhere, it is quite difficult for non-native learners like me to get the real senses of English modals.

So let's wait for the answer of native speaker teachers, Paco.Emotion: smile

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