Future Continuous
The Future Continuous tense is often used in English as a way to talk about something happening at a given point in the future.
How do we make the Future Continuous tense?
The structure of the Future Continuous tense is:
| subject | + | auxiliary verb WILL | + | auxiliary verb BE | + | main verb |
| invariable | invariable | present participle | ||||
| will | be | base + ing |
For negative sentences in the Future Continuous tense, we insert not between will and be. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and will. Look at these example sentences with the Future Continuous tense:
| subject | auxiliary verb | auxiliary verb | main verb | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| + | I | will | be | working | at 10am. | |
| + | You | will | be | lying | on a beach tomorrow. | |
| - | She | will | not | be | using | the car. |
| - | We | will | not | be | having | dinner at home. |
| ? | Will | you | be | playing | football? | |
| ? | Will | they | be | watching | TV? |
Contraction with Future Continuous
When we use the Future Continuous tense in speaking, we often contract the subject and WILL:
| I will | I'll |
| you will | you'll |
| he will she will it will |
he'll she'll it'll |
| we will | we'll |
| they will | they'll |
In negative sentences, we may contract with won't, like this:
| I will not | I won't |
| you will not | you won't |
| he will not she will not it will not |
he won't she won't it won't |
| we will not | we won't |
| they will not | they won't |
How do we use the Future Continuous tense?
The Future Continuous tense expresses action at a particular moment in the future. The action will have started before that moment but it will not have finished at that moment. For example, tomorrow I will start work at 2pm and stop work at 6pm:
| At 4pm tomorrow, I will be working. | ||||||
| past | present | future | ||||
|
||||||
| At 4pm, I will be in the middle of working. | ||||||
When we use the Future Continuous tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time we are talking about. Look at these examples:
- I will be playing tennis at 10am tomorrow.
- They won't be watching TV at 9pm tonight.
- What will you be doing at 10pm tonight?
- What will you be doing when I arrive?
- She will not be sleeping when you telephone her.
- We'll be having dinner when the film starts.
- Take your umbrella. It will be raining when you return.