0

I know the future continuous refers to temporary actions and events that will be in progress at a particular time in the future. However, I feel confused about the following two sentences.

Unfortunately we won’t be attending the wedding.(We cannot attend the wedding that day and maybe we can if the wedding is held another day?) Unfortunately we won’t attend the wedding.(We've decide not to attend the wedding?)

What's the real difference between them?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
  1. We won’t be attending the wedding.

vs

  1. We won’t attend the wedding.

In this specific case, it's mainly for formality.

Using (2) is concise and straight-forward. It sounds like "We won't come because we don't want to", which may sound quite rude.

Using (1) simply sounds a bit more gentle and complex (subjectively), making it sound nicer, and a bit more like "We won't be able to" instead of "We don't want to".

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

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