Look at these examples to see how the future continuous and future perfect are used.
In three years' time, I'll be studying medicine.
In five years' time, I'll have finished studying medicine.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Future continuous
We can use the future continuous (will/won't be + -ing form) to talk about future actions that:
- will be in progress at a specific time in the future:
When you come out of school tomorrow, I'll be boarding a plane.
Try to call before 8 o'clock. After that, we'll be watching the match.
You can visit us during the first week of July. I won't be working then.
- we see as new, different or temporary:
Today we're taking the bus but next week we'll be taking the train.
He'll be staying with his parents for several months while his father is in recovery.
Will you be starting work earlier with your new job?
Future perfect
We use the future perfect simple (will/won't have + past participle) to talk about something that will be completed before a specific time in the future.
The guests are coming at 8 p.m. I'll have finished cooking by then.
On 9 October we'll have been married for 50 years.
Will you have gone to bed when I get back?
We can use phrases like by or by the time (meaning 'at some point before') and in or in a day's time / in two months' time / in five years' time etc. (meaning 'at the end of this period') to give the time period in which the action will be completed.
I won't have written all the reports by next week.
By the time we arrive, the kids will have gone to bed.
I'll have finished in an hour and then we can watch a film.
In three years' time, I'll have graduated from university.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hi Maahir,
Both going to and the future continuous show plans, but the future continuous shows a higher degree of certainty. If you say I will be buying a new car, it shows that you are very sure that this will actually happen. If you say I am going to buy a new car, it doesn't show such certainty. Buying a new car may be just your dream or intention.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Jack Red,
You are right that both forms (will turn and will be turning) are correct here.
I think the explanations you quote are only examples of uses, not the only uses possible. It's quite possible to use will + verb to describe choices (things we control), for example, as well as things we do not control. It's also quite possible to use will be + verbing to describe things that we expect (in the present as well as the future) as part of a normal and predictable process.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Zuzanna,
I'm afraid I can't think of an example for that usage off the top of my head -- that sounds strange to me. Sorry!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Paula81,
I'd need to see the full context for these sentences to be able to explain the future continuous form here with full confidence, but I expect that 'will' is being used to talk about typical behaviour here. It sounds as if the writer is thinking of what typically happens when he or she travels with this person.
This is an advanced use of 'will' that is analogous to the use of 'would' to speak about typical past behaviour. You can see a short explanation of this use of 'will' under the section Habitual events on this Cambridge Dictionary page; there's an explanation of this use of 'would' on our Talking about the past page, under Past events and situations.
Hope this helps you make sense of it -- it's great that you noticed it!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello SaraZaber,
You could use either of the sentences, but I'd recommend the second one. If you use the passive voice (first sentence), it suggests the revision is more mechanical, as if it were something that will happen whether or not the students participate. The second one doesn't have this same sense.
It's a subtle difference and up to you which is better. You could also make it even more active by saying 'We will begin the revision for the mid-term exam on Monday'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team