Grammar – Understanding “Your Birthday’s Next Month”

grammar

I believe all of the sentences are grammatically correct (I guess you could argue some are more idiomatic than others, but it's not what the questions asks). Am I right or wrong? If wrong, why?

Choose one grammatically correct answer

  • Your birthday's next month, isn't it?
  • Your birthday will be next month, won't it?
  • Your birthday is going to be next month, isn't it?

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I passed this little test. It's from a Russian online recruitment platform. They kind of challenge you to prove you actually have C1 (I don't think it proves anything at all since it's way too short and limited in scope, but whatever). However, there was some single "wrong" answer, they claim (they don't tell me which one). It might be it, I figure

Best Answer

This is probably testing if you know that the simple present can be used to refer to future events, when they happen certainly, due to a calendar or schedule. Birthdays are an example.

My birthday is in September. September is the next month after August. August is this month. Hence my birthday is next month.

You can also say "The bus leaves at 9pm" or "I graduate next year". These events are seen as being inevitable due to the bus timetable, or the University schedule.

So that is probably what this question is about. But all three are syntactically correct. All three express the same general meaning, in different ways. None of the options is clearly incorrect.

"Will" expresses future events, it is a fairly neutral future tense. "Going to" tends to be used for future events that occur as a result of present choices and conditions. "Going to" would be the least appropriate, as the birthday won't occur as a result of the choices we make today. It will happen anyway.

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