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.

Learn about Future Indefinite or simple future click here

→ 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.

Learn about Present Continuous

RECOMMENDATION Learn about will and be going to

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.

Learn about Past Indefinite (Simple Past) click here

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.)

Learn about Present Continuous click here

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.