Across languages, some progressives have futurate readings and others do not. This is a

puzzle under the consensus possible-worlds approach to progressives and futurates. Here I

explain this puzzle via differences in aspectual focusing: some progressives focus the reason

for the event (which can be the intention or plan), and therefore they permit futurate

readings, while other progressives focus the process, and therefore do not permit futurate

readings. Focusing here is based on a causal model approach which allows us to make direct

use of causal reasoning for semantics (Nadathur and E. Bar-Asher Siegal 2026). I present a

connection between causal models and lambda-calculus through speaker commitment to a

causal model under discussion, and use lexically-constrained sets of causal models (causal

scenarios) to build phrase structure, facilitate aspectual focusing, and explain the semantic

“settledness” (Kaufmann 2005a) constraint on futurates. The framework also suggests an

explanation of the differences between simple and progressive futurates in English.