Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
FUTURE TENSE, NOTIONAL FUTURE
English forms what some grammarians call its future tense by combining the auxiliaries shall or will or their contractions with the infinitive form of a verb: They will arrive tomorrow. I shall be there. Of course we’ll come. (Other grammarians argue that because there is no change of form or inflection for the verb, English really doesn’t have a future tense.) With forms of be plus the present participle of a verb, English also has something usually called the notional future, as in She is going next year; I am expecting to get the call soon; the notional future is also apparent in Our plane leaves at ten tonight. See TENSE.
