"as the date approaches" - ok; "when the date will approach"?
Hello everyone!

I was writing an e-mail and I was saying that I will let the recipient know about a certain thing when the time will come. At first I typed "when the date will approach", but then double-thought and went for "as the date approaches". Is the former wrong though?

Thanks in advance!

Question

"as the date approaches" - ok; "when the date will approach"?
Hello everyone!

I was writing an e-mail and I was saying that I will let the recipient know about a certain thing when the time will come. At first I typed "when the date will approach", but then double-thought and went for "as the date approaches". Is the former wrong though?

Thanks in advance!

Answer

Yes, "will approach"  would have been wrong. Following 'as' or 'when', you need a present tense, not a future.  "As the date approaches" is grammatically correct, but not very natural.

The phrase you need may not involve a verb at all - possibly the best way to say this could be the expression 'nearer the time'. For example, if there is a key date at the end of March and you are going to give the person information about this date during the third week of March, you could say that you'll give them this information 'nearer the time.'

Answer

As the date is drawing near,

Answer

The expression is "the day approaches." Can you please provide the sentence so we can see if this phrase works in context? Thanks.