LoginFuture Continuous
This detailed lesson explores the Future Continuous Tense in English, featuring examples and a quiz to help test your knowledge.
What Is Future Continuous Tense?
The future continuous (also known as the future progressive) tense is often used in English as a way to talk about an ongoing action or event happening at a given point in the future. It indicates that something will occur in the future and continue for an expected length of time.
Future Continuous: Structure
The future continuous tense is formed using the modal verb 'will,' the auxiliary verb 'be' in its base form, and the present participle of the main verb. The modal and auxiliary remain unchanged for all subjects in this tense.
In informal contexts, 'will' can be contracted.
I
Future Continuous: Negation
To form negative sentences 'not' is used after the modal verb 'will' and before the auxiliary 'be':
She will be using the car. → She will
We will be having dinner. → We will
In negative sentences, you can contract 'will not' as 'won't', for example:
I
Future Continuous: Questions
To form yes/no questions in the future continuous tense, simply invert the subject and 'will.' Here are some examples:
He
To form a wh- question in the future continuous tense, follow the same procedure as for yes/no questions and place the appropriate wh- question word at the beginning of the sentence while omitting the part that constitutes the answer.
He will be cooking dinner this evening. →
Using Future Continuous to Talk about Ongoing Actions in the Future
Future Continuous: Uses
The future continuous tense is used to talk about:
- Ongoing Actions at Some Point in the Future
- Future Decisions or Plans
- Future Predictions and Expectations
- Scheduled Events in the Future
- Temporary Future States
Ongoing Actions at Some Point in the Future
The 'future continuous tense' is used to talk about an unfinished action that will be in progress at a time later than now. When we talk about unfinished actions, it means they have started earlier and will continue until a particular point in the future. For example:
At 4 p.m. tomorrow, I
They
The 'future continuous tense' is also used to talk about an action that will be in progress in the future and is interrupted by another action that does not continue for long. Check out the examples:
She
I
The 'future continuous tense' is sometimes used with 'still' to talk about events that are already happening now and are expected to continue until some time into the future. This shows that the event started in the past, is still ongoing, and will continue in the future as well. For example:
In one year he
Sadly, prices
Future Decisions or Plans
The 'future continuous tense' is used to talk about future plans and decisions. It indicates our intention or commitment to an ongoing action or event in the future. For example:
By Christmas Jane and I
This time next month I
Future Predictions and Expectations
We use the 'future continuous tense' to predict future events. It means we are not completely sure that something will happen, but we think it is likely. Check out the following examples:
I expect that she
You
The 'future continuous tense' can also refer to ongoing events that we expect to happen in the future. This means that we think something will happen but there might be changes. Look at the examples.
I
When James is in Germany, he
Scheduled Events in the Future
We use the 'future continuous tense' to talk about planned or scheduled events in the future, often as a reminder, or warning. For example:
We
We
Temporary Future States
We do not normally use the continuous tense with stative verbs. However, a few stative verbs like 'love,' 'live,' 'feel,' 'expect,' and 'enjoy' can be used in the continuous form to talk about temporary states. Look at the examples:
You
They
Review
Future continuous tense is used to talk about actions that are supposed to be in progress at a particular time in the future.
| structure | Subject + will + be + main verb in -ing form |
|---|---|
| affirmative |
He |
| contraction |
He |
| negative |
He |
| contraction |
He |
| yes/ no question |
|
| -wh question |
|
The future continuous tense is used to talk about:
- Ongoing actions in the future
- Future decisions or plans
- Future predictions and expectations
- Scheduled events in the future
- Temporary future states
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