Summary: This post is about how to talk about schedules (e.g. travel arrangements, entertainments, and public events). It argues that native speakers of English do not use ‘will’ all the time to talk about future. Instead, the simple present (e.g. There is an English class at 10 tomorrow.) is usually used.

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Do you know that? What? If you use ‘will’ all the time for talking about future, you won’t have a bright future. Why? When native speakers of English talk about schedules (or timetables), they don’t use ‘will’ all the time.

So what do they use? Or what tense to use when they talk about schedules? The answer may surprise you. Native speakers use something simple, the present simple tense, to talk about schedules (or timetables).

Want an example? Read the conversation between two spies. (But be careful. Why? This is top secret.)

Spy 1: Where’re you going this time?

Spy 2: Hong Kong.

Spy 1: Have you got the details of the flight?

Spy 2: What do you mean?

Spy 1: I mean, like, what time does the plane arrive at Hong Kong?

Spy 2: It arrives at 11:00.

Spy 1: So, who’s gonna pick you up?

Spy 2: Mr Snowden.

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Well, but why? Why do they use the present simple to talk about schedules? Well, you may think of schedules as some kind of facts. Facts? What are facts? Read the example below: ‘Being a spy is dangerous‘.

That is, we use the present simple to talk about facts. And for native speakers of English, they ‘treat’ schedules as a kind of facts. So they use the same tense for both facts and schedules. In other words, unless there are, for example, some kind of disasters, the schedules are true.