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I won't be able to attend the event as I am already preoccupied with some personal work for that day.

Is this sentence correct? I read preoccupied is for past. So how can I make this sentence right (if it's wrong) with minimal modification to point to a future time?

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    The sentence is not wrong. "I read preoccupied is for past" You read it, but it's wrong. I was preoccupied = past, I am preoccupied = present and I will be preoccupied = future. That it's called a "past participle" is just confusing.
    – oerkelens
    Commented Dec 18, 2017 at 9:25
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    "Pre-occupied" looks as if it might mean "arranged in advance to be busy", but in fact it does not have that meaning at all, but means something quite different. Language is what it is, not what somebody thinks it ought to be.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Dec 18, 2017 at 10:58
  • I don't believe you can talk about preoccupation as something that is scheduled to begin at a later time. However, once begun, it can be predicted to continue for virtually any duration contingent on the context. The war in Afghanistan will continue to preoccupy the US for several years. I won't be in Florida for Christmas because I will still be preoccupied with fixing up mom's house so she can sell it.
    – Phil Sweet
    Commented Dec 18, 2017 at 11:50
  • Be aware too that preoccupy in English has some false friends in other languages, where it can mean such things as worry.
    – Drew
    Commented Dec 19, 2017 at 2:57

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To be preoccupied with something means that you are thinking about it and it's difficult for you to think about other things. Since this usually happens when you don't want it to happen, it's unusual to predict it will happen in the future, and it isn't normally something you decide will happen in the future.

I think you want to say, for example "I have some personal work I need to do on that day" or "I am planning to do some personal work on that day" or "I will be occupied with some personal work on that day".

However, as pointed out by oerkelens in a comment the sentence isn't grammatically wrong. "I'll be preoccupied" "I'm going to be preoccupied" and so on are correct. They just don't express what you mean.

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    It can also mean doing something else, not just thinking about something else. This is probably understood but just in case, I thought I'd mention it. :-)
    – Kristina Lopez
    Commented Dec 18, 2017 at 16:21
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Definitions relate to the vernacular common to the people involved in the communication. In modern idiomatic English usage, the term "preoccupied" connotes obsession, so for a strict business correspondence I would opt for "previously scheduled" otherwise you are almost certainly denoting difficulty in balancing work with the rest of your life. Which, depending on the circumstance, could be TMI or imploring the understanding of the person you are corresponding with.

Other than that, your preoccupation with work is now as it will be and therefore chronologically contiguous so semantically your sentence is correctly structured.

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