Present progressive for "decided" future with no human agency
The present progressive is very often used to describe future events that are already decided due to fixed plans or arrangements:
- I'm getting married next month.
- We're getting new furniture for the office.
- My friends are coming over tomorrow.
What I'm interested in is the acceptability of the present progressive in sentences where the future is determined, but not due to plans, but rather due to factors beyond human control:
- I checked the forecast – it's raining tomorrow.
- The license is expiring in two days.
- The sun is setting at 4:30 pm tomorrow.
I would appreciate it if native speakers (from both sides of the pond) could write how they feel about each of the above sentences – does it sound awkward? slightly awkward? totally okay? I'd like to get as many opinions as possible.
I've done some research on sentence #3. I've asked two native speakers, and done some research in grammar books and on the Web (including this StackExchange question) – answers have ranged from "totally okay" to "ungrammatical", which is why I was hoping to get some more feedback.
Thank you in advance for your help!
PS. I realize these sentences can be phrased in different ways (e.g. The sun sets at 4:30pm tomorrow. or The sun will set at 4:30pm tomorrow). My question is specifically about the present progressive.
Solution 1:
For what it's worth, Huddleston and Pullum's Cambridge Grammar of the English Language says the following about sentences resembling #2 and #3:
- It's expiring tomorrow is OK
- The sun is setting at five tomorrow is "semantically or pragmatically anomalous".
The justification given is that the progressive is restricted to cases where human agency or intention is involved. The authors are both British.