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
Hello, I have a question. How would we change the voice of future continuous tense..e.g. No one will be pulling the strings.
How would we change the voice of this sentence. Thanks
Hello Ayesha27,
The passive form of will be pulling is will be being pulled, but it is a very rarely used form because it is so long. We tend to prefer constructing sentences in such a way as to use the active form rather than this.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello.Can will be also used instead of future continues sometimes? Because I often see people (specially me) using will instead of future continues in cases that future continues is needed grammerically.
Would you please help me with this🙏🏼
Sorry if it isn't so formal or polite I am not so much familiar with formal English
Hello Lwf,
The forms here are will verb and will be -ing. As you suggest, in some contexts you can use either form.
On the page above you can see two uses for will be -ing:
It is context dependent but I think as a rule of thumb you can say that in the first use (in progress) you need to use the continuous form whereas for the second use (new, different or temporary) it is possible to use just will verb.
Also, remember that will is not a tense but rather a modal verb and that you can replace will with other modal verbs such as might, may, should, could etc. to create other meanings.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Tea
Hi, I have a question about question three on test 2.
I can understand that "will" should be there, but how about "would"?
More respectful expression, right?
Hi CoMETIK,
No, we would not use would here because the question is about a fact (What are your plans?) rather than being a request (Can you do this?). If the speaker were requesting something then they could use would to add politeness or to make it more tentative, as you suggest:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
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