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It is shown in a book (Essential grammar in used: unit 22)

"Football matches are often played at the weekend, but no matches are being played next weekend."

In my opinion it should be:

"Football matches are often played at the weekend, but no matches will be played next weekend."

Edit: Just to point out that my wonder is in the present form are being when referring to a future event next weekend. So in my opinion it should be will be instead of are being.

Bur Nor
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  • The thing that's not idiomatic, in the US, is "at the weekend". – Hot Licks Jun 01 '20 at 02:35
  • At the weekend is only common in the UK. But are being played is fine. It doesn't mean they are being played right now, it means that they are currently scheduled to be played. – Jason Bassford Jun 01 '20 at 02:43
  • @JasonBassford. So can it also be said: "...but no matches are played next weekend."? – Bur Nor Jun 01 '20 at 02:50
  • @BurNor No, that doesn't sound natural. You need to add the infinitive in that version: … no matches are to be* played next weekend.* (But both are to be and are being are fine.) – Jason Bassford Jun 01 '20 at 02:51
  • @JasonBassford - We say "at the weekend" in Australia too, though I myself am more likely to say "on the weekend". – nnnnnn Jun 01 '20 at 02:52
  • @JasonBassford are you saying that "are being played" and "are to be played" can be used indistinctly in this example? But if I say "the car is being repaired" and "the car is to be repaired", to me they have different meanings. – Bur Nor Jun 01 '20 at 03:02
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    "The car is being repaired" with no further context would mean that repairs are underway now, but it would be fine to say "the car is being repaired next weekend" if you mean that repairs will be started and completed next weekend. – nnnnnn Jun 01 '20 at 03:23
  • The "will" in "will be" is in the exact same tense as the "are" in "are being". Simple present. English offers a multitude of ways to refer to future actions, but all of them use the present tense. None of them use the future tense, because English has no future tense. – RegDwigнt Jun 01 '20 at 18:12

1 Answers1

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Yes, the sentence is correct. The future tense would also be acceptable, though it would have a different connotation.

The present continuous in English can be used to talk about events in the future: e.g. 'I am meeting him after work'. This usually carries the implication that plans have already been made - 'right now, I have an arrangement to meet him after work'. In the OP's football example, 'no matches are being played next weekend' can hence be understood to mean 'the current arrangement is for no matches to be played next weekend'.

In contrast, the future tense is used to make predictions or state facts about the future. 'no matches will be played next weekend' is hence perhaps more emphatic.

See for instance Cambridge's dictionary pages on this:

ATJ
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  • @Jim fair enough - I'll change my answer to reflect that. – ATJ Jun 01 '20 at 17:25
  • @Jim - done. Feel free to comment on the new version too ;-) – ATJ Jun 01 '20 at 17:27
  • I would like to refer to this answer to complement yours. https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/226650/is-it-correct-to-say-we-start-tomorrow-shouldnt-it-be-we-are-starting-tomor – Bur Nor Jun 01 '20 at 19:13