What is Future Continuous Tense?
The Future Continuous Tense (also called the Future Progressive Tense) is used to talk about actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future. It describes actions that will have started but will not have finished at a certain point in the future.
Structure of Future Continuous Tense
The structure of the Future Continuous Tense is:
Subject + will + be + verb-ing
Examples:
- I will be studying at 8 o’clock tomorrow.
- They will be playing cricket next Sunday.
- She will be writing her exam at this time next week.
Negative Form of Future Continuous Tense
To make a negative sentence in the Future Continuous Tense, we add ‘not’ after ‘will’:
Subject + will + not + be + verb-ing
Examples:
- I will not be studying at 8 o’clock tomorrow.
- They will not be playing cricket next Sunday.
- She will not be writing her exam at this time next week.
The contraction ‘won’t’ can also be used instead of ‘will not’:
- I won’t be studying at 8 o’clock tomorrow.
- They won’t be playing cricket next Sunday.
Interrogative Form of Future Continuous Tense
To make a question in the Future Continuous Tense, we place ‘will’ before the subject:
Will + subject + be + verb-ing + ?
Examples:
- Will I be studying at 8 o’clock tomorrow?
- Will they be playing cricket next Sunday?
- Will she be writing her exam at this time next week?
Negative Interrogative Form
To make a negative question, we use ‘will not’ or ‘won’t’ before the subject:
Will + subject + not + be + verb-ing + ? Won’t + subject + be + verb-ing + ?
Examples:
- Will I not be studying at 8 o’clock tomorrow?
- Won’t they be playing cricket next Sunday?
Common Mistakes in Future Continuous Tense
- Forgetting ‘be’:
- Incorrect: She will singing at the concert.
- Correct: She will be singing at the concert.
- Using ‘ing’ form with ‘be’:
- Incorrect: He will being working on the project.
- Correct: He will be working on the project.
- Incorrect word order in questions:
- Incorrect: You will be going to the party?
- Correct: Will you be going to the party?
- Double use of ‘will’:
- Incorrect: I will will be sleeping at 10 PM.
- Correct: I will be sleeping at 10 PM.
- Placing ‘not’ in the wrong position:
- Incorrect: I will be not studying tomorrow.
- Correct: I will not be studying tomorrow.
Exceptions and Special Cases
- Stative Verbs: Some verbs that express states rather than actions are typically not used in continuous tenses. These include:
- Verbs of senses: see, hear, smell, taste, feel
- Verbs of emotion: love, hate, like, dislike, prefer
- Verbs of thinking: believe, know, understand, remember
- Verbs of possession: have, own, belong, possess
Examples:
- Incorrect: I will be knowing the answer tomorrow.
- Correct: I will know the answer tomorrow.
- Incorrect: She will be loving the new book.
- Correct: She will love the new book.
- Future Time Phrases: When using future continuous tense, we often use time phrases that indicate a specific point in the future:
- At this time tomorrow
- While/When something else is happening
- During that period
- By then
When to Use Future Continuous Tense
- Actions in progress at a specific time in the future:
- At 6 PM tomorrow, I will be cooking dinner.
- This time next month, we will be living in Mumbai.
- Planned future actions:
- I will be meeting my friends after school tomorrow.
- She will be visiting her grandparents during the summer holidays.
- Polite questions about someone’s plans:
- Will you be using the computer later?
- Will they be staying for dinner?
- Parallel actions in the future:
- While I will be cooking, my sister will be setting the table.
- She will be reading while her brother will be playing.
Time Expressions Often Used with Future Continuous Tense
- tomorrow at this time
- at 8 o’clock tomorrow
- next week/month/year
- this time next week/month/year
- while
- when
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