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I have encountered this sentence and I'm getting very confused.

From now until Monday, next week, this diner will have a buy-1-get-1 promo on hoagies.

On one hand, it says that the promo is starting "now" and will end on Monday. On the other hand, it uses "will have" to state that the diner has a promo. Shouldn't it be using "has" instead?

Is this sentence even grammatically correct? I've encountered this structure several times and I'm thinking it's simply a product of informal speech.

I've also encountered a slightly similar structure which I suspect is also a product of informal speech:

From now until Monday, next week, this diner will be having a buy-1-get-1 promo on hoagies.

EDIT:

Thanks for all the responses. I love you guys.

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  • Considering Monday is always a new week, cannot we go for stating the date to avoid all ambiguity? This diner is entitled to have a buy-1-get-one coupon valid till [date]. or This diner is entitled for a buy-1-get-one promo till (coming) Monday.
    – Maulik V
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 8:19
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    Monday is certainly not always next week... In the US, weeks commonly start on Sunday. So if you say this on Sunday, you do not mean the promo lasts for one day only. (And I assume the diner is the place, not the eater, in the OP's example sentences ;) )
    – oerkelens
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 9:03
  • In the US, weeks commonly start on Sunday... I thought the weekend includes Saturday and Sunday both! oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/weekend_1 And I also thought someone eating at that restaurant to be lucky getting the coupon! I missed the latter one for sure ;)
    – Maulik V
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 9:46
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    In the UK, a week is generally taken to start on a Sunday. This comes from the church practice of naming weeks of holy significance that always start on a Sunday (Holy Week, Easter Week, etc.). However, in the business world, weeks are usually taken to start on a Monday as that is the first normal working day of the week.
    – Chenmunka
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 11:19

2 Answers 2

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There are a number of options you can use here. The simplest construction you could use is the present progressive (present tense and progressive aspect):

I am reading it now; I will be finished soon.

In your example, this would give:

From now until Monday, this diner is having a 2-for-1 sale on hoagies.

This works just fine. Your suggestion uses instead the future progressive (future tense, progressive aspect), which also works fine.

You'll recognize me because I will be wearing this green shirt.

From now until Monday, this diner will be having a 2-for-1 sale.

This is idiomatic (at least in American English) as well, even when the action has already begun--"I'll be waiting" is a common expression, and doesn't imply that you haven't started waiting yet.

The phrase you asked about is in the simple future (future tense, simple aspect). This is a common idiomatic replacement for the future progressive in situations like this one, usually involving the verb "to be." A comedian who gets a laugh on Tuesday night might say:

Thank you; I'll be here all week.

This sounds at first like a progressive aspect, because of "to be," but in this case "be" is the verb, not "here." You can think of this as an elision of:

Thank you; I will be being here all week.

which is something no native speaker would ever say. On the other hand, it would be perfectly correct (if a little stilted) to say:

Thank you; I will be performing here all week.

and you would rarely if ever hear a native speaker say:

*Thank you; I will perform here all week.

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In any register, either a present or a futurive expression is acceptable here, and either a simple or a progressive construction.

  • A present-tense expression bears a futurive interpretation, which is constrained here by the fact that most of the promotion's duration lies in the future.

  • Have has a causative sense here, not a possessive, so it is not constrained by the rule which prohibits the progressive construction with stative verbs. The progressive here 'recategorizes' have as an activity rather than a state.

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