1

a person is speaking or writing about his strategy to buy records

"buy in stacks and buy cheap. I'll spend 60 bucks on a stacks of twenty 3 dollar records. Ten records are crap, five are good but not great , three are pretty damn fine and two blow my mind. If I dump the ten crappos for nothing, I'm paying six bucks a pop, a very reasonable price

First he used future ok I understand then switched to present I can also understand it is a fact (a general truth. It is mathematical) but why present progressive, is it used as future? why not going to pay?

Improve this question
5
  • 2
    Note that, in English, it is not normal to put a space before punctuation. For example, "...buy cheap .I 'll..." should be "...buy cheap. I'll..."
    – JavaLatte
    Commented Apr 6 at 10:42
  • Should read " three-dollar records" (singular "dollar").
    – TimR
    Commented Apr 6 at 11:30
  • 1
    Don't begin your passage with part of a sentence lopped off as you have done.
    – TimR
    Commented Apr 6 at 11:31
  • @TimR Are you sure that something is lopped off? "Buy in stacks and buy cheap." Is a complete sentence.
    – JavaLatte
    Commented Apr 6 at 12:27
  • @JavaLatte: The lower case "b" and the fact that there's a missing close-quote made me think something had been mangled or not included.
    – TimR
    Commented Apr 6 at 18:53

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

This looks like very informal spoken English: it's perfectly normal to have inconsistencies of all sorts in spoken English, and even more so for informal English.

In this particular case, he or she is describing something that they do regularly - a habitual action. Will (and would) can be used in this way, and so can present continuous.

Improve this answer
0
1

You can use the simple present and the present continuous to talk about events in the future that are already decided, planned, or scheduled. This is fairly common in English. These are often used with hypothetical "if" constructions, and/or expressions of time. The context makes it clear we are talking about something in the future.

Some similar examples

If I buy a 2kg bag of potatoes for £1.59, and there are ten potatoes in the bag, then I'm paying approximately 16p per potato.

If Mary arrives before 10am, she is having breakfast with us at Toni's Café. If she can't make it in time, then I'm cooking lunch at home instead.

The train leaves/is leaving at 8pm tonight.

Improve this answer
11
  • so in my example it is not clear what the reference is because the example given is in the future but i am paying could be present (I am doing it) or future (will do it soon ) it is a bit ambiguous but if it was future it would be indicated (adverb of time or some words relating to the time ). So it should be present but how can we use present when the beginning example is in the future
    – Yves Lefol
    Commented Apr 6 at 15:52
  • @YvesLefol - it's not ambiguous to English speakers. You could use "going to pay" in the example sentence, but it's not obligatory. There are many ways to talk about the future. This is just another way to do it.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Apr 6 at 16:14
  • yes I know there are many ways to talk about the future but I am paying is it present or future ?
    – Yves Lefol
    Commented Apr 6 at 16:17
  • And if it is present why continuous unless he is doing it , generally paying is not an action extended over time or that does not last a long time .
    – Yves Lefol
    Commented Apr 6 at 16:24
  • 1
    ok so will is the signal word here
    – Yves Lefol
    Commented Apr 6 at 17:18

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .