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Case in point: Javier Escovedo. Javier Escovedo, who most people know as one of the founding members of The Zeros, The True Believers and one of the pioneers of the ‘70’s West Coast punk movement has been writing, singing, and playing vital, heartfelt music since the mid-'70s, and it's clear he isn't stopping anytime soon.

Why not future simple instead of present progressive, I know progressive can be used as future may be that the case because of soon or is it because of the use of present perfect progressive "has been writing, singing and playing" which means it is happening now or may be both

ColleenV
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Yves Lefol
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  • Don't assume that every different choice of tense necessarily carries a different meaning. In your context, I don't think it would make the slightest difference if it had been any of it's clear he isn't stopping / won't stop / won't be stopping* anytime soon*. They all mean the same, and objectively speaking none are any more to be preferred than any other (they're just alternative stylistic choices). But as a non-native speaker it might be easier for you if you just stick with future simple for utterances you generate yourself, if only on account of the KISS principle. – FumbleFingers Jul 21 '17 at 16:07

1 Answers1

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I agree with FumbleFingers' comment that the progressive can be used as a substitute for the future tense, and here isn't stopping has much the same meaning as won't stop and won't be stopping.

However, I don't think these have exactly the same thing, and can actually have very different meanings in a different context. Consider these three examples:

  1. The train isn't stopping.

This implies that the train was expected to stop but currently is not. Perhaps it's a runaway train. Perhaps the driver just forgot to stop. Either way, the train is still moving. You can also use this to imply the train is going to keep moving, no matter what, "This train isn't stopping for anything!"

  1. The train won't stop.

Without additional context, this implies some kind of inability to stop moving ("I can't stop the train!"), or sometimes the expectation that it will keep moving until some condition is reached, for example, "This train won't stop until it reaches its destination."

  1. The train won't be stopping.

This is a common expression used to explain an expected future behavior of the train, for example, "This train won't be stopping in Chicago."

In your example, the author's use of "isn't stopping" is a little like the runaway train in the first example. Most people would have stopped by now, but this guy keeps going and going.

Andrew
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