Thread: Tenses

Originally Posted by pushvv

I am a bit confused. What is the difference between

Server is going to provide something.

and

Server is going to be providing something.

For me, one of the differences has to do with expectancy. 'going to be providing' has a greater degree of expectancy, greater certainty. But it is nebulous. Foggy.

"The server is going to provide something - Just for this time" This one is kind of indefinite, but does have a one time sense, could be used for a question about what is going to happen in a particular case, ie server has been prompted, now waiting for response.

"The server is going to be providing something." This one could be used when is a case of how server has previously functioned, so we have seen it already working in a particular situation. And now we have that situation again, and so we have expectation that 'it will be providing something'.

The idea about the imperfective/perfective is reasonable, but in English it isn't such a clear difference as in Russian.