FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE MASTERCLASS

This post will help you understand and be able to use the Future Continuous tense, also known as the Future Progressive tense.

What is the Future Continuous tense?

The Future Continuous tense is a verb tense that is used to refer to actions happening at a certain time in the future. Note that we, here in this tense, just focus on the continuity of the action, not on when it will start or end.

We generally use the Future Continuous tense when someone wants to know what we are doing at a specific time in the future, or we simply want to tell people what we will be doing at a specific time.

The purpose of using this tense in the sentence is to show that at a certain time in the future, which is 6 pm here, an action will be taking place. Here, this is what the speaker wants to convey. The possible situation is that someone wants to know what you are doing at this time.

The speaker will be performing an action at a certain time tomorrow. We are just focusing on the happening of the action at that time. We are not concerned about the starting point or the ending point of the action.

More examples:

• We will be sleeping when we come back.
• I will not be doing anything after the class. I have nothing to do.
• At 12 o’clock tomorrow, I will be having lunch with Tina by the lake.
• Jon and I will be watching a movie together next week.
• Will you be playing football in the evening?
• Don’t call me at this time tomorrow, I will be doing meditation.
• We will be waiting for you at the platform when the train arrives.

How to form sentences in the Future Continuous tense?

Affirmative sentence	Negative sentence	Interrogative sentence	Interrogative negatiive sentence
Subject + will + be + V1+ing	Subject + will not + be + V1+ing	Will + subject + be + V1+ing?	Will + subject + not + be + V1+ing? or Won’t + subject + be + V1+ing?
I will be sleeping at 10 pm.	Alex will not be coming today.	Will you be coming tonight?	Will you not be working there?
The meeting will be going on at 5 pm.	Sam will not be playing with us at 8 pm.	Will they be waiting for me?	Won’t she be having dinner with you?
We will be eating Chinese at Jon’s.	I will not be going anywhere.	Will Jon be living here next month?	Won’t they be playing in the park at 6 o’clock?
Jon will be speaking to the students tomorrow morning.	We will not be watching TV.	Will the students be sitting in the class at 4 pm?	Won’t Sam be sitting in your class?

WH questions

Questions that start with WH question words (what, where, why, when, who, whom, whose, how) are called specific questions. These questions can’t be answered in simple yes or no, unlike general questions, which we have already taken examples of.

Structure:

WH words	Usage
what	to refer to the object when it’s a thing (will also be used when the subject, doer, is a thing, which it’s generally not)
who	to refer to both the subject and the object (when it’s a person)
whom	to refer to the object for a person (hardly used in modern English)
whose	to refer to the possession of a person or a thing
why	to find the reason for the action
where	to find the place of the action
when	to find the time of the action
how	to find the manner of the action

Examples:

• What will you be doing at 10 pm?
• What will your parents be saying about this?
• Who will be coming to see me?
• Who will be taking the next class?
• Who will you be working with after the class?
• Who/whom will they be training for the job?
• How will you be dealing with this problem?
• How will she be walking on this rope?
• Where will you be waiting for me at 10 o’clock?
• Where will you guys be playing in the evening?
• When will he be taking the class?
• Why will Max be living in this small house?
• Why will we be watching TV at 12 o’clock?
• Whose project will you be working on at this time tomorrow?
• Whose car will he be driving?

Other uses of the Future Continuous tense

A) To predict future actions

We often use this tense to predict what will be happening in the future.

Examples:

• Jon will be talking trash to you in the fight. Be prepared.
• At the end of the concert, the people will be throwing tomatoes at you.
• He won’t be picking up our calls after 8 pm.

B) To ask for information (politely)

Asking about future events using the Future Continuous tense is considered very polite.

Examples:

How will you pay the bill, sir?
Alternative: How will you be paying the bill, sir?

Will he drive the car?
Alternative: Will he be driving the car?

Will your brother come with you?
Alternative: Will your brother be coming with you?

C) To talk about events you expect to take place in the future

We also use the Future Continuous tense to talk about events that we think or expect to take place in the future.

Examples:

• I will be running this company next year.
• People will be living a normal life soon.
• You will be fighting the ranked guys soon.

D) Using ‘still’

We use ‘still’ before the word ‘be’ to talk about actions that are happening right now in the present and will be taking place at a particular time in the future too.

Examples:

• I will still be waiting for you when you come back.
• Jon will still be living with his living when he turns 60.

Max: Hey, Alex. What are you doing?
Alex: I am watching the final match.
Max: Oh! I will call you at 10 pm.
Alex: I will still be watching it. Call me after 11 pm; I will be free.

Contractions

I will	I’ll
We will	We’ll
You will	You’ll
He will	He’ll
She will	She’ll
They will	They’ll
It will	It’ll

We, now, know what the Future Continuous tense is and the different situations where we use it. Share the post with others to help!

Other Future tenses

• Simple Future tense
• Future Perfect tense
• Future Perfect Continuous tense