future - The next century will begin on the 1st of January 2001


In a test, I was asked to choose between will and be going to forms in a sentence expressing futurity:



The next century __ (to begin) on the 1st of January 2001.



My guess is that the choice lacks a third option: Present Simple. Am I right, or is it fine to use "will" in order to express inevitable events?



Answer



Future tense is certainly used to express events that are going to happen, but you can say "The next century begins in 2101". Notice that this is only because you are treating it as a measurable quantity; you could, in theory, say ?This century begins in 2001 and ends in 2100, though it sounds odd. You certainly can't say *It rains tomorrow.


Edit; the point about It rains tomorrow, though interesting, is not what OP was asking about. "The next century will begin..." is the usual form. "The next century begins..." is not wrong, but could be considered odd, depending on context. "The next century is going to begin...", though grammatical, is unduly wordy, and may put too much emphasis on the verb, leaving the reader wondering if you are about to say .."tomorrow, due to unforeseen circumstances."


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