could i ask a few questions, i'm not a native speaker of english, i just can't figure it out. these sentences:
i wonder if he's going to change his job. or i am wondering he's going to change his job
i am looking forward to seeing you again or i look forward to seeing you again
what are the differences?
if the simple present tense can't be used to talk about action right now( at the moment of speaking), then why" i look forward to seeing you again"?
ING---> indicates a state of now and in the near future.
Present tense means in a current state.
"I am wondering IF he's going to change his job" means that you are wondering at THIS very moment. It is not incorrect if used in that narrow sense.
The "seeing" in "look forward to seeing" is a gerund, and not the present continuous. It means the same as "to see". You use a gerund in this case to avoid the peculiar construct with two "toos i.e. "look forward to to see you tomorrow".
It's just one of those odd things.
You know, I think even us natives don't actually know ;)
The "ing" phrases here suggest a more immediate action. "At this very moment I'm wondering if..."
whereas "I wonder if" is a more abstract idea, not really suggesting that the person is thinking to hard about it. "Oh hey, he quit. I wonder why." Sort of just a question word really.
The phrase "I look forward to seeing you again" Is probably what you're going to here more often. It's a common closing phrase you'll here at the end of letters, meetings. "I'm looking forward..." suggests you already know for sure you'll meet again.
There's not really that much of a difference. It's mostly just cultural inferences/implications.
