Future perfect and future continuous
Use the future continuous, future perfect and future perfect continuous to project yourself into the future.
In this lesson you will
- Use will be doing for actions in progress in the future
- Use will have done for completion by a time
- Use will have been doing for duration up to a future point
Learn
Future continuous (will be + -ing): in progress at a future time, or a routine future event: At 9 tomorrow I’ll be sitting my exam. The train will be arriving shortly.
Future perfect (will have + participle): completed before a future time, usually with by: By 2030, scientists will have found a cure.
Future perfect continuous (will have been + -ing): duration up to a future point: In May I’ll have been working here for ten years.
These also express assumptions about now: Don’t call — she’ll be sleeping. They’ll have arrived by now.
Examples
- This time next week, we’ll be lying on a beach in Crete.
- By the end of the year, I’ll have saved enough for a car.
- By the time he retires, he’ll have been teaching for forty years.
- It’s 8 pm — they’ll have finished dinner by now.
Vocabulary
by (a time)
no later than
shortly
soon
assumption
something you believe without proof
retire
stop working because of age
milestone
an important event or stage
Practice
Complete the sentence.
Speaking
Describe your life in five and ten years: what you’ll be doing, what you’ll have achieved, and how long you’ll have been doing things.
Writing
Write a letter to your future self (120–150 words) using all three forms.
Lesson quiz
By 2040, electric cars ___ petrol cars.
Review
Key points
- will be + -ing = in progress / routine future.
- will have + participle = completed by a time.
- will have been + -ing = duration to a future point.
- Assumptions: she’ll be sleeping; they’ll have arrived.
What you learned
- ✓ I can use advanced future forms.
- ✓ I can talk about future milestones.
- ✓ I can make assumptions about now.
Grammar reference: Future forms: will, going to, present continuous