The Classification of Words

That w i I I b e your British hospital? (Randall).
The Present Continuous Non-Perfect
§ 267. The basic meaning of the present continuous non-perfect as a language unit, resulting from the synthesis of its elementary grammatical meanings is to denote an action as a concrete process viewed in its progress (the continuous aspect) associated with the present (the present tense) and unspecified as to its correlation with other situations (non-perfect order).
E. g. You ought not to talk that way when lam just s p e a k i n g foi your own good. (Lewis).
§ 268. Since it functions to indicate an action in its devel­opment when used in speech it often serves as a sort of back­ground or framework to another action in the present, which is mostly of habitual, recurrent nature ¹.
E. g. Whenever she is planning a party she always throws herself into it heart and soul. (Randall).
When employed with such adverbs as always, ever, con­stantly, continually, perpetually ², etc. it expresses a contin­uous uninterrupted action. The lexical meanings of the ad­verbs neutralize the meaning of the continuous aspect (a con­crete process of limited duration), but the latter suggests a greater intensity, contributing to the emotional effect ³.
E. g.^x "It looks to me", continued Soames, "as if she were sweeter on him than he is on her. She i s always following him about". (Galsworthy).
The present continuous non-perfect here, obviously, sa­vours of irony blended with disapproval.
The present continuous non-perfect is, as it were "more emotional" than the present non-continuous non-perfect.

¹ О
² A

325.
Есперсен. Философия грамматики. М., 1958, p. И. С м и р н и ц к и и, op cit., p 326.
³ А И. С м и р н и ц к и и, op. cit., р. 326—327; Г. Н. В о р о н-ц о в a, op. cit., p. 191.
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G. Curme ¹ says that the continuous aspect "is charged ^f with feeling".
Hence it is a favourite in lively style.
E. g. How many decorations have you got, Ettore? asked
the vice-consul. He's got everything. He's the boy \ they are г и n n i n g the war for. (Hemingway).
The present continuous non-perfect is sometimes employed to denote an action in the near future. Unlike the present non-continuous non-perfect with a future sense, this is not the continuation of the Old English usage.
I. P. Ivanova ² thinks that the meaning of futurity in the present continuous non-perfect has developed out of its basic meaning: it denotes a process in its continuity which will be completed in the future. This is likely to lead to the possibility of using the present continuous non-perfect to denote an action in the near future. The usage is quite common
E. g. The doctor is coming soon. (Hemingway). / won't be in. I am dining out. (Maugham).
The present non-continuous non-perfect presents a future act as part of a fixed program, an act whose certainty is secured by certain objective conditions. The present continuous non-perfect often denotes a future act as springing from the will of the person indicated by the subject of the sentence '^d.
Hence the rarity if not the complete impossibility of sen­tences like The ship is sailing tonight.
Another point of difference between the present non-con­tinuous non-perfect and the present continuous non-perfect used with a future sense is the fact that the present contin­uous non-perfect may be so used without any accompanying adverbial modifiers of time, which is but seldom observed with the present non-continuous non-perfect.
Cf. We d i n e with the Robinsons on Monday. We a r e dining out.
It is natural that the present continuous non-perfect is employed in reference to the future in adverbial clauses of
¹ Op. cit., p. 374.
² Op. cit., p. 85.
³ I. P. Ivanova, op. cit., p. 86.
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time and condition ', when the action is viewed in its devel­opment ².
It differs from the present non-continuous non-perfect in a similar function (apart from its aspective meaning) in indic­ating a more immediate future and being sometimes slightly incidental ³.
// you are writing home, give them my love.
It sometimes occurs with verbs which aie but rarely used in the continuous aspect ⁴ to stress the transitory, temporary nature of the action.