What is the difference between ‘I'm never having a beard when I grew up’’ and 'I will never have a beard when I grew up'?
Are the two sentences the same in meaning or they are different?
Learn English – the difference between ‘I’m never having a beard when I grew up’’ and ‘I will never have a beard when I grew up’? Request
future-tensepresent-tensesentence-meaningtense
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Best Answer
The two are very similar and could easily be interpreted to mean the same thing, but there are subtle differences in what the speaker might have meant:
With I'm never having the speaker might be resolving to never have a beard, because he really doesn't want one. (This is progressive tone; we hear the future lack of a beard as something the speaker will maintain by force of will.)
With I'll never have the speaker might have concluded that he (she?) is permanently unable to grow a beard, either physically (perhaps genetically, or perhaps a skin disease), or perhaps a rich aunt's will prohibits bearded relatives from inheriting. (This implies a pefective aspect; we hear the future lack of a beard as something out of the speaker's control).
It's a little farfetched in the specific case of beards: you really have to strain to think of a plausible situation for the "I'll never have" version.
But the difference is much easier to see between "I'm never having a Mercedes" (from an Audi lover) and "I'll never have a Mercedes" (sigh, I'll never be able to afford one).