Future Continuous and Future Perfect
Describe what will be in progress, or already complete, at a point in the future.
14 minUpper Intermediate
1The grammar
Use the Future Continuous (will be + -ing) for an activity in progress at a particular time in the future: This time tomorrow, I'll be flying to Tokyo. The activity will have started before that moment and will continue after it.
The Future Continuous also describes events that are expected as part of a normal routine or plan: I'll be seeing Jan at the office tomorrow. It can make a question about someone's plans sound more polite, because it doesn't suggest a request: Will you be using the car tonight?
Use the Future Perfect (will have + past participle) for something that will be complete before a point in the future: By June, we'll have finished the project. It often goes with 'by' or 'by the time'.
To focus on how long an activity will have lasted by a future point, use the Future Perfect Continuous (will have been + -ing): In May, I'll have been working here for ten years. In time clauses with 'by the time', 'when' and 'before', use a present tense, not 'will': By the time you get here, we'll have eaten.
2Structure and formation
Future Continuous
will be + verb + -ing
At nine, she'll be teaching.
Future Perfect
will have + past participle
By nine, she'll have left.
Future Perfect Continuous
will have been + verb + -ing
By nine, she'll have been working for an hour.
Negative
won't be + -ing; won't have + past participle
I won't have finished by then.
Time clause
by the time / when + present tense, will ...
When you land, I'll be waiting.
3Examples
Don't call at eight. We'll be having dinner.
In progress at a future time.
I'll be passing the bank anyway, so I can pay it in.
An event that will happen in the normal course of things.
Will you be joining us on Friday?
A polite question about plans.
The builders will have finished by next week.
Complete before a future point.
By the time she retires, she'll have taught thousands of students.
'By the time' takes a present tense.
Next month, we'll have been living here for a year.
Duration up to a future point.
4Common mistakes
At six I will driving home.
At six I will be driving home.
The Future Continuous needs 'be' before the -ing form.
By Friday I will finish have the report.
By Friday I will have finished the report.
The order is will + have + past participle.
By the time you will arrive, I'll have left.
By the time you arrive, I'll have left.
After 'by the time', use a present tense for the future.
I'll have finished it until Monday.
I'll have finished it by Monday.
Use 'by' for a deadline. 'Until' is for something that continues up to a time.
5Practical usage
Making plans and deadlines
The Future Perfect is useful at work for promising results: We'll have sent the contract by Wednesday.
Asking politely
Use the Future Continuous to ask about plans without pressure: Will you be needing anything else today?
Now practise it
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