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Unread May 27th, 2009, 12:16 pm
susan53 susan53 is offline
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Join Date: Oct 8th, 2006
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Default Re: when + a present situation

Yes - though note that your example is not future time : it's a case of the present simple used for permanent, or recurrent, events ( = I always like it in any winter when it's raining)

However, it is possible to use the continuous form to express a future event after a conjunction when the event is on-going: When you're speaking to David tomorrow, don't forget to saythat ...

To go into the "real" rule means changing the terminology that you've used, but staying with your terminology, you could say that the rule is "if you want to state a future event after a conjunction - if, when, as soon as etc - use a present verb"

But what aspect that verb has (simple, continous, perfect) will depend on the type of event the speaker wants to portray (neutral, ongoing, completed). So :

When/As soon as John arrives, call me. (future event - neutral : present simple)
When/While you're doing your homework,turn the spell check off. (future event - ongoing : present continuous
When/After you've phoned everyone, let me know what they said. (future event -completed : present perfect)

Incidentally, I hope your site name isn't a reflection of your feelings towards English grammar ....
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