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,
In test 2, in example 6 "In three weeks' time I'll be lying on the beach in Sabah. I can not wait! ", we're not supposed to use the future perfect as mentioned in the course when we use "In three weeks' time, In three years' time....."?
Personally, both cases seem correct to me but I want to be sure.
1- If we use the future continuous, that means in three weeks, I'm going to start lying on the beach.
2- If we use the future perfect, the sentence will mean that within three weeks, I will already be lying on the beach.
Thks
Hello Ama1
The sentence to be completed is as follows:
You need to complete this with one word. There is no way to complete it with one word using the future perfect.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Peter,
I rephrase my question, why do we use "Future Continuous" when there is "In three weeks' time"?
In the course, you use the "Future Perfect" when there is "In three weeks' time" while in the test 2 "6. In three weeks' time I'll lying on the beach in Sabah. I can not wait! " you use the Future Continuous.
THANKS
Hello again Ama1,
Both forms are possible but the meaning is different:
Sentence 1 tells us the action will be complete. In other words, at some point in the next three weeks I will lie on the beach. It may be in a day or in two and a half weeks, but it will be before three weeks have passed. The context is rather strange for this form because we generally use this form to describe something we see as an achievement of some sort, not just lying on a beach!
Sentence 2 tells us that in three weeks's time I will be in the middle of lying on the beach. We might use this when we are dreaming of (looking forward to) a holiday, for example.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi, I have a question related to the Future Tenses. Should we use Future Perfect in a sentence with "before the end of the year"? For example, "The school will have been finished before the end of the year". Or we should use Future Simple "The school will be finished before the end of the year"
Hello ketty27am,
There is no need to use a perfect form here, and also no need to use passive voice. The modal 'will' (not a tense, by the way) followed by a bare infinitive is sufficient:
You can use a perfect form (the modal 'will' followed by a perfect infinitive) if you wish to emphasise the time. For example, if you are telling someone that there is a deadline which they need to keep:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello,
could you pleaese help me with these sentences.
The whole family arrived a few days ago and _____with us until next Monday. ( STAY)
Can we use future perfect here or future continuous is better
a)The whole family arrived a few days ago and will be staying with us until next Monday.
b) The whole family arrived a few days ago and will have stayed with us until next Monday.
Hi .Mariia,
Only a) is possible in this example, because it says "until next Monday". "Until" means the action continued into next Monday, and ended on that day. The future perfect, however, means that the action ended before the mentioned time, so it can't go together with "until".
The simple future "will stay" also works in this example.
I hope that helps to understand the answers here!
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
the answer is hidden in the future. get it because it is a future tense. LOL XD
Hi! Can you help me, please? I need to know whether both of the following variants are possible: By the time I graduate from the university, I will have decided ....... By the time I have graduated from the university, I will have decided....
I understand the reason of using Future Perfect Simple - the question is whether present simple is the only option in the first part of the sentence. Thanks in advance!!!