“I'm working the late shift tomorrow.”

English Lesson: I'm working the late shift tomorrow.

Your friend invites you to play pool tomorrow night, but you can't because you have to work from late afternoon to midnight at the front desk of the hotel you work for.

I'm working the late shift tomorrow.

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a shift

A "shift" is the period of time that an employee has to work. Jobs that have "shifts" are usually paid by the hour. One shift is usually between 4 to 16 hours, and can sometimes have a name like:

  • the late shift
  • the morning shift
  • the graveyard shift (a creative name for a shift that starts late at night and goes until early morning)

The verb "work" is sometimes used to talk about a shift. In a job with a shift system, you might hear an employee say:

"I'm working the afternoon shift tomorrow."

(someone) is (doing something)

You can use "I'm ___ing" to talk about things that are in the middle of happening now:

I'm waiting for the bus.

...or about things that are going to happen soon in the future:

I'm moving to Sweden in March.

People usually talk about the future this way when they're discussing plans that have already been set or chosen.