Future continuous and future perfect

Future continuous and future perfect

Do you know how to use phrases like I'll be studying or I'll have finished? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

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

Future continuous and future perfect: 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

Future continuous and future perfect: Grammar test 2

Average: 4 (96 votes)
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Submitted by tugbanurtezvergil on Tue, 31/10/2023 - 20:12

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Hello, I have a question about using ''will not or won't'' for these tenses. Do we have to use ''won't'' instead of ''will not''? For example, What is the correct one in these sentences? ''I won't be working'' or ''I will not be working''

Hello tugbanurtezvergil,

Both of the sentences you ask about are correct and they mean the same thing. We use 'won't' more often in speaking and also quite often in writing, but 'will not' is completely correct in terms of grammar. If you used it a lot with your friends in informal conversation, it would probably sound a little strange (just because we usually say 'won't'), but it wouldn't be incorrect.

Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team

Submitted by ridhi on Sun, 08/10/2023 - 17:49

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Dear Sir,

The following lines are from the news article.I fail to understand the last last line passive form of future perfect.Could you pls explain sir,why this tense is used and what meaning it conveys.expected future actions before a future point usually uses the future perfect tense,I am not being able to find that two future points in this sentence.What exactly the writer is conveying and how that form of tense helps.

Sorry for the long question🙏

The significance of the date will not have been lost on the leadership.

Thank you!

Hi ridhi,

Will not have been lost is the form of the future perfect, but it doesn't refer to the future here. Will can also show the speaker's prediction, e.g. He'll be at home right now. The use of will shows that while the speaker is quite certain about this, it's still a prediction and the speaker does not know this as a fact. (Saying He is at home now shows that it is a fact, for example.)

To show a prediction about something that has already happened, you can use the perfect form, will have. In your example, it shows that the speaker is saying that at some given moment in the past, the leadership knew the significance of the date. As mentioned above, the writer does not know this as a fact but is making a prediction (albeit a fairly certain one), since presumably the writer of this sentence does not have access to the leadership's communications and knowledge.

I hope that helps to understand it.

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

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Submitted by oyo on Tue, 19/09/2023 - 13:55

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can someone please explain ing everything

Hello oyo,

I'm afraid we don't provide lessons or general explanations -- that's what the page is for! But if you have a specific question, please feel free to ask. If you don't know what to ask about, I'd suggest trying the exercise and then asking us about a question that you got wrong.

Please also note that it's not generally considered polite to write in all capital letters.

All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team

Submitted by Ulk on Wed, 13/09/2023 - 23:10

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Good day. I have a couple of questions concerning Future Perfect and Future Simple difference

1. First I’ll take a phrase from your exercise - Next week we'll have been together for two years.
- What will be the difference ( if any ) if I use BY here – By next week we'll have been together for two years ?
- What will be the difference if I use Future simple here : Next week / By next week we will be together for two years ?

2. Which tense is correct in this phrase and why:
- by 2030, there will be some 8.8 million people in this country

- by 2030, there will have been some 8.8 million people in this country

Thank you

Hello Ulk,

1. In sentences using 'will have', we use 'by' to mean 'before this time'. Thus, if you say 'by next week' you mean at some point before next week. If you just say 'next week' you mean 'when next week comes'.

Another example might help clarify it:

I'll finish it by the weekend. [when the weekend comes it will be done]

I'll finish it at the weekend. [when the weekend comes I will do it]

 

2. 'Will be' is correct. You are making a prediction about a state in the future, not looking back on something completed before a certain point. You could use 'will have...' with a different context. For example:

By 2030 there will have been more than 8 million people in my country for several decades.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team