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I want to compare the point of the following three sentences:

  1. You will never finish this book.
  2. You are never finishing this book.
  3. You aren't going to finish this book.

My understanding:

  1. Denote only opinion (assumption) of the speaker.
  2. Denote serious intention of the speaker (speaker is preventing to finish the book).
  3. The same as 2.

Am I right?

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  • "You will never finish" is the correct form in the first line. "Finished" is the past form of the verb.
    – CowperKettle
    Commented Jul 3, 2014 at 4:40
  • @CopperKettle What about 2 and 3?
    – Dmitrii Bundin
    Commented Jul 3, 2014 at 4:41
  • 2 and 3 seem OK to me.
    – CowperKettle
    Commented Jul 3, 2014 at 4:42
  • @CopperKettle That is, am I correctly handed the sense of these sentences?
    – Dmitrii Bundin
    Commented Jul 3, 2014 at 4:51
  • I'm not sure (about the 3rd sense in particular) so I'm leaving this for others to reply.
    – CowperKettle
    Commented Jul 3, 2014 at 5:03

2 Answers 2

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The first and second seem equivalent to me. The third, to me, sounds like something you would say to someone who is trying to read/write a book in a much shorter period of time than is possible.

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1

In spoken language, I believe you're right about number 2 that the speaker is sounding very preventative, though, the emphasis on stress intonation used between 1 and 3 would determine it's idea, as they could both be very easily used in the same or opposing situations.

Hope this helps!

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