Future Continuous

WILL BE/GOING TO BE V-ING

Use:
a) Use the future continuous to talk about an event that will already be in progressat a specified
time in the future.
This time next week, I’ll be driving to my parents’ house.
Phrases often seen with this use of the future continuous include:
By ..., This time next week..., In __ years’ time...; when + present simple; by the time + present
simple.
When you arrive, I’ll be driving home.
By the time I get home, you’ll probably be having a bath.
b) The future continuous can be used instead of the present continuous for future plans.
Will you be going to Jane’s party?
Yes, but I’ll be getting there a bit late, because I’m going to a meeting after work.
c) We can also use the future continuous to make a guess about something that is in progress at the
moment.
Don’t phone Richard now, he’ll be having dinner.
Oh no, I forgot about the dinner! It’ll be burning, I know it!
These sentences are not about the future but we can use the future continuous to talk about what
we assume is happening at the moment.
Form:
a) You can make the future continuous with will or going to. Make the future continuous this way:
Positive and Negative
I will be verb + ing
you won’t be
he / she it
we am / are / is going to be
they
Questions
Will I be verb + ing?
you
Won’t he / she it
Am we going to be
Is they
Are
b) Remember that some verbs are not used in continuous tenses. These include verbs connected
with possession: possess, own, belong, likes and dislikes: like, love, hate and other abstract
verbs: seem, be, cost, want.
Future perfect
WILL HAVE V3 + TIME
Use:

 Use the future perfect to talk about an event that will be finished and complete before a
specified time in the future.

This time next week, I’ll will have finished this project.
Phrases often seen with this use of the future continuous include:
By ..., This time next week..., In __ years’ time...; when + present simple; by the time + present
simple.
When you arrive, I’ll have prepared the dinner.
By the time I get home, my mum will probably have tidied the house.

 The future perfect is also use to make predictions about future events that will be complete
before a specified future time.

Do you think Mel will have eaten all the chocolate cake?
No, she won’t have done that!
Form:
Make the future continuous this way:
Positive and Negative

I will have
you won’t have
he / she it past participle
we
they

Questions

I
you
Will he / she it have past participle?
Won’t we
they

Be going to is rarely used to make the future perfect tense.

Tom’s going to have finished his lecture by the time we get there.
Future perfect continuous
WILL HAVE BEEN V-ING
Use:

 Use the future perfect continuous to talk about an event that will be in progress for some time
before a specified time in the future.

Janet will be really tired when we get home. She will have been looking after the children all day!

 It can be used to make predictions about event that will be in progress before a specified time
in the future.

Joe won’t mind that we are late. He won’t have been waiting long.

 It can be used to predict what was happening in the past.

“What do you think the men were doing in the store room?”
“Don’t worry. They will have been unpacking boxes.”

 Both the fixed future time and the length of time of are often mentioned in future perfect
continuous sentences.

By the end of this week, I’ll have been working here for five months.
Fixed future time: the end of this week
Length of time: five months
But this is not always the case.
Anne will be in a bad mood at the party this evening because she’ll have been doing housework.
Form:
Positive and Negative

I will have
you won’t have
he / she it been + verb-ing
we
they

Questions

I
you
Will he / she it have been + verb-ing?
Won’t we
they
V1 – V1

V1 – WILL V1

V2 – WILL V1

HAD V3 – WILL HAVE V2

HAD V3 – WOULD V1