Future Perfect Continuous
The Future Perfect Continuous tense looks at the past from the future.
How do we make the Future Perfect Continuous Tense?
The structure of the Future Perfect Continuous tense is:
subject | + | auxiliary will | + | auxiliary have | + | auxiliary be | + | main verb |
invariable | invariable | past participle | present participle | |||||
will | have | been | base + ing |
For negative sentences in the Future Perfect Continuous tense, we insert not between will and have. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and will. Look at these example sentences with the Future Perfect Continuous:
subject | auxiliary verb | auxiliary verb | auxiliary verb | main verb | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+ | I | will | have | been | working | for four hours. | |
+ | You | will | have | been | travelling | for two days. | |
– | She | will | not | have | been | using | the car. |
– | We | will | not | have | been | waiting | long. |
? | Will | you | have | been | playing | football? | |
? | Will | they | have | been | watching | TV? |
Contraction with Future Perfect Continuous
In speaking with the Future Perfect Continuous tense, 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 |
- I’ll have been driving for five hours.
- She’ll have been watching TV.
In negative sentences, we may contract with won’t, like this:
I will not | I won’t |
you will not | you won’t |
he willnot 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 |
- You won’t have been drinking, will you?
- We won’t have been driving for long.
How do we use the Future Perfect Continuous Tense?
The Future Perfect Continuous tense is like the Future Perfect tense, but it expresses longer actions or states extending up to some specific event or time in the future. For example:
- Ram starts waiting at 9am. I am late and cannot arrive before 10am. Ram will have been waiting for an hour by the time I meet him.
Ram will have been waiting for one hour when I arrive. | |||||||||
past | present | future | |||||||
Ram starts waiting at 9am. | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
I will arrive in future at 10am. |
Notice that the long action or state can start at any time in the past, present or future, but of course it always ends in the future.
Next Monday we will have been living here for exactly five years. | ||||||||||
past | present | future | ||||||||
|
Look at these examples:
- He’ll be tired when he gets here. He’ll have been travelling all day.
- How long will Jo have been working when he retires?
- Next month I‘ll have been studying Chinese for two years.
- Will you have been working when I arrive?
- He won’t have been studying long enough to qualify.
- Next week Jane is going to swim from England to France. By the time she gets to France she‘ll have been swimming non-stop for over thirteen hours.
Future Perfect Continuous Quiz
You can do this grammar quiz. It tests what you learned on the Future Perfect Continuous page.
Great, thanks for sharing this article.Really thank you! Great.
Muchos Gracias for your article post.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.
A big thank you for your article.Much thanks again. Great.
Really informative blog post.Really thank you! Will read on…
Very good blog article.Really thank you! Awesome.
Major thankies for the blog article.Thanks Again. Cool.
Major thankies for the blog. Really Great.
I am so grateful for your article post.Much thanks again. Awesome.
Looking forward to reading more. Great blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
Wow, great blog. Want more.
I appreciate you sharing this article post.Much thanks again. Great.
Very informative post.Thanks Again.
Wow, great blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Want more.
Appreciate you sharing, great article post.Thanks Again. Great.
Great, thanks for sharing this blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.
Very informative post.Thanks Again. Keep writing.
Major thanks for the post. Cool.
Thank you for your blog post.Much thanks again. Really Great.
I loved your blog post. Fantastic.
This is one awesome blog post.Much thanks again. Keep writing.
I really liked your article.Thanks Again. Really Great.
Thanks for the blog article. Keep writing.
I am so grateful for your blog post. Cool.
I am so grateful for your article post.Much thanks again. Fantastic.