The questions are following vs. The questions are as follows

[Diodora]

Is the following sentence correct:
The questions are following:
?

What is the difference, if any, between this sentence and
The questions are as follows: ?

Diodora

[Yankee]

Hi

The sentence "The questions are as follows:" is a standard sentence.

Your first sentence is not correct. But you could add the word "the" and then it would be OK and the meaning would be the same as your second sentence: "The questions are the following:"

I would prefer "The questions are as follows:"

Amy
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Agent]

I have just spoken to someone who insists that The questions are following is OK. He claims that the Present Continuous Tense is used in the above sentence instead of the more ususal Present Simple. Is he right?
Please comment on this.

[Agent]

Just to add something, according to him The question are following or The questions follow would mean that they appear later in the paper.

[Yankee]

Hi New_User

In your question, the sentences each had a colon (:) at the end and that would indicate that the questions do NOT appear somewhere later in the text, but rather immediately after the colon.

I might say "The questions follow." if the questions are found later in or at the end of the text. I definitely would not write "The questions are following."

Alan? Conchita? Jamie? Mr. McCawber? What do you think?

Amy
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Agent]

I am eager to find out why the Present Continuous Tense is incorrect here....

[New_user.]

Cut in half again - gives you 8 bits per apple !When the butter and sugar is caramalised, put in the apples until the pan is full. Careful not to burn your fingers. Lower the heat and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove fromheat and put into an ovenproof pie dish. Then put pastry over the top (pastry instructions are following !).

Source:
soul.ucmp.umu.se/~ucmp/other/UCMPcookery.pdf

What about the use of the Present Continuous Tense in the above example?

[Alan]

Hi New_user

To interpret the meaning behind:

[Foah]

Hi!

[Yankee]

Hi New_user

The cookbook source you cited (above) is from a Swedish web site. I've now had a look at the pdf file. While the English in this cookbook isn't bad, there are various mistakes in it. It was not written by a native speaker. You need to be careful where you take your online English examples from. Unfortunately, there are quite a few web sites with bad examples of "English".

Additionally, "cookbook" English is often an "abbreviated" or "short-form" style of English. If you want to write a relatively formal letter or a report (which is what I understood from your original question), it's definitely not a good idea to take examples of how to write things from a cookbook. ;)

Can you tell us exactly what sort of text you want to put your sentence in?

Amy
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[New_user.]

Actually, the sentence is rather imaginary.

Possible contexts the I can think of are as follows:-)
1) The questions are following.
The above gives rise to questions

2) The questions are following
The questions will appear later in the paper.

Additionaly, I have found yet another example:
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-announce-list/2004-July/msg00025.html

I would say that it has not been written by a native speaker either. Still I hope you will visit the website.

I do not usually read cookery books:-) I would not use the phrase. I, too, feel that there is something wrong with it. I just need to find a good justification to support my claim.

[Yankee]

Hi New_User

Sorry, but I'm not going to go to any more web sites. I've given you the best opinion I could. Alan has also given some good input. Visiting further web sites serves no useful purpose that I can see, particularly to answer questions about an imaginary sentence with no definite context.

Hi Michael

[New_user.]

Thank you all for your help

:)

[Foah]

Hi Amy!

Why should we act like a cat on the hot bricks? :wink: But I?ve followed your track only.
I?ve been beating my brains out :wink: before I found that solution which seemed to be formal but possible. What now wonders me whether the following sentence could be correct:

I am sitting waiting? :shock:

What I intended was to find a short form for:

I?m sitting at the bus station, waiting for the bus!

Curious, isn?t it? :)

Michael
_________________
"Ho ho!" said the clown

[Yankee]

Hi Michael (one of the flock of Bloodbrothers ;))

Your feelings are getting better and better.

A very typical sentence would be:
"I'm sitting here waiting."

(Without the word here, I guess I'd insert a comma.)

Amy
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln