Future Continuous
Future Continuous
The future continuous
tense indicates that something will occur in the future and continue for an
expected length of time.
Note that continuous tenses
are also called progressive tenses. So the Future Continuous tense
is sometimes called the Future Progressive tense.
The Future Continuous tense is
often used in English as a way to talk about something happening at a given
point in the future.
FORMULA / STRUCTURE
Subject + will + BE + Verb [fourth form (an-ing)]
Fourth form of verb is called Present Participle form and an –ing form.
Singular
subject = will
|
Plural
subject = will
|
You
= will
|
Shall can be used for the future, in the first person, after I
or We.
BASIC LEVEL
EXAMPLES
[will = ‘ll]
→ I’ll be playing cricket.
[I’ll = I will]
→ We will be
playing that day.
→ You will be
watching TV.
→ Yaqoob will
be reading a book.
→ Yaqoob and
Aslam will be reading a book.
→ He will be
working.
→ She will be
drawing.
→ It will be
raining.
→ They will
be playing.
I will = I’ll
|
We will = We’ll
|
You will = You’ll
|
He will = He’ll
|
She will = She’ll
|
It will = It’ll
|
They will = They’ll
|
NEGATIVE EXAMPLES
For negative we use [will not be = won’t be]
NOT will be not
→ I will not be
playing cricket.
NOT I will be not playing
cricket.
OR I won’t be playing
cricket.
→ Yaqoob will not be
reading a book.
OR Yaqoob won’t be reading
a book.
→ You will not be
watching TV.
OR You won’t be watching
TV.
INTERROGATIVE / QUESTION
For interrogative we use [will]
→ Will Yaqoob be reading
a book?
NOT Will be Yaqoob reading a
book?
→ Will Yaqoob not be reading
a book?
OR Won’t Yaqboob be reading a
book?
→ Will you be watching
TV?
→ Will you not be watching
TV?
OR Won’t you be watching TV?
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
(i) Read some
examples:
→ I will be writing articles on different
topics.
→ They will be playing hockey in that field.
→ We will be shopping in that market this
Monday.
→ We will be watching a movie in this Cineplex
on next Saturday.
→ You will be shopping at that market tomorrow.
→ He will be reading various kinds of books.
→ Maria will be having coffee in this coffee
shop.
→ Yaqoob will be studying in the library.
(ii) Compare Future Indefinite and
Future Continuous.
→ The national
anthem will play when they enter.
(= they will enter and then the national anthem will play.)
→ The national
anthem will be playing when they enter.
(= The national
anthem will start playing before they enter.)
Future Continuous, Future
Indefinite, and the present
continuous often (اکثَر) have a very similar meaning.
Future Continuous
→ The visitors will be
arriving later.
Future Indefinite
→ The visitor will arrive
later.
Present Continuous
→ The visitors are arriving
later.
ADVANCE LEVEL
(iii) We use
Future Continuous as a guess for Past, Present, and Future. For past we use might,
for present we use may or might, and for future we use will.
Study these
examples
PAST
Person 1: Yesterday, I went to meet Yaqoob. I
called him but he didn’t come.
Person 2: He might be sleeping.
PRESENT
Person 1: What is your father doing in his
office?
Person 2: He may be working.
(= means I am
50% sure he is working.)
Person 2: He might be working.
(= means I am less
than 50% sure he is working.)
FUTURE
→ Take your umbrella. It will be raining when
you return.
→ My father will be traveling around the world next
year.
→ Aslam will be cleaning the house tomorrow.
He always does it on Sunday
(iv) Shall
Uncertain
future : I or We → shall
I shall, We shall
Certain Future
: I or We → will
I will, We
will
↷ I will
go there.
(= means I shall definitely go there.)
Uncertain
future : The Rest → will
You will, He
will, she will, it will, they will
Certain Future
: The Rest → shall
You shall, he
shall, she shall, it shall, they shall
↷ He shall
pass the examinations.
(= means he will definitely pass the examinations.)
↷ The form shall
not be submitted after February.
(= means it will not be
submitted after February at any cost.)
We can be certain
about ourselves, but we cannot be certain normally about others. That’s why
usage of shall becomes less.
If you have
confusion do practice or use only “will”.
(v) Read this:
[Reference:
(Second Edition) Oxford Practice Grammar by John Eastwood Unit 22]
We know about things in
the present and in the past because they are already real. But talking about
the future is more of a problem.
There is no single form in English that we can always use for the future. There are many different ways of talking
about the future, depending on how we see a future event. It may be something that is fairly sure to
happen, but on the other hand it may be just a plan or an intention, or it may be something that you think will
happen but you can't be sure about.
(vi) Being sure and
unsure
[Reference: (Second Edition) Oxford
Practice Grammar by John Eastwood Unit 22]
We cannot always be sure about the future. To show that we
are unsure we can use might or could.
↷ We might go
to Canada. It could snow soon.
To show how sure or unsure we are, we often use phrases like I'm
sure, definitely, I expect, I (don't) think and probably.
↷ I'm sure it'll be all right. We're definitely going to be at the meeting.
↷ I expect everyone will be going home. Rachel will probably be late.
↷ I think I'm going to sneeze. I don't think Tom's coming tonight.
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