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We would very happy to come to visit you. We are going to take the plane. Departure on 10th august return around 24th august.

Our return date is depending on the cost of airline ticket.

Our return date will be depending on the cost of airline ticket.

Our return date will depend on the cost of airline ticket.

Our return date depends on the cost of airline ticket.

Which sentence is the best? I think progressive is the best as it is a limited duration and as my trip shall be on july , I should use future So will be depending

Stephen S
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Yves Lefol
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  • The sentences sound really wrong to my ear. A Return date cannot depend on something... and you can't use progressive aspect with the word "depend". – SovereignSun Apr 20 '17 at 12:42

2 Answers2

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Our return date is depending on the cost of airline ticket.

Probably not what you want. Use this if you are currently trying to return, but you are unsure if you can get a return ticket right now.

Our return date will be depending on the cost of airline ticket.

Probably not what you want. Maybe use this if you know that your return date will depend on the cost in the future, but you haven't chosen a tentative return date yet.

Our return date will depend on the cost of airline ticket.

This is probably what you want. This implies the return date is in the future, and not yet certain.

Our return date depends on the cost of airline ticket.

This might be what you want. This implies that there is a set of possible return dates coming up, and you need to pick which one you want soon.

Stephen S
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  • I don't really understand the difference between will be depending and will depend . In both cases the return has not been fixed yet but with will depend you have a rough idea , will be depending you don't even have a rough idea. Am I right? – Yves Lefol Apr 21 '17 at 06:29
  • @user5577 in this context, they are basically the same in meaning, except that will depend places the choice that will occur in the future, while depends doesn't really place it in time at all - it's present in form, but can be talking about something happening right now, or something in the near future. – Stephen S Apr 21 '17 at 18:01
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I think Stephen's answer is getting at the right idea, but examples with more context might help to clarify. So here's how you might use the present progressive:

We are already on our vacation, and we want to come home now, but our return date is depending on the cost of the airline ticket.

Future progressive:

We are planning our vacation. We have decided when we are going to leave, but we aren't going to plan our return date until after we get there. Our return date will be depending on the cost of the airline ticket.

Future tense:

We are planning our vacation. We will select a return date before we go, but our return date will depend on the cost of the airline ticket.

Present tense:

There's no example for this one, because you could substitute it in any of the situations I already described. The present tense would simply be describing something that is generally true, in this case. The present tense is what I would probably choose most of the time, and especially when no additional context is provided.

Even with the additional context, the progressive tenses sound just a little odd to me. They don't sound wrong, but sound like something I'd be unlikely to say unless I were very specifically trying to emphasize that we would be waiting to return home until the price was right.

joiedevivre
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