Future Perfect & Future Perfect Continuous

Hello, guys! Welcome to Grammar Zone! My name’s Harry Jones.

My best friends Allan and Kate will help me make our lessons useful and enjoyable.

Interviewer: Excuse me, do you have a second? We are asking students about their plans for the future for a survey.

Harry: OK.

Interviewer: What are your plans for the future? What will you and your friends be doing in ten years’ time?

Harry: Let’s start with myself. I will definitely go to college because I want to be a journalist.

By the time I’m thirty I’ll have started my own magazine – as you see, I’m very ambitious.

It’s easy to say what Kate will be doing ten years from now. She will still be painting. She’s very talented, so she’s going to be very successful. I also hope that she will have decided to give up playing the drums then, as a favour to the whole world!

I have no idea what Allan will be doing in ten years’ time. Maybe he will have started his own business. Then he will be able to go to work as late as he likes!

Look at the highlighted forms and define the tenses they’re used in.

Will be doing, will be painting are the Future Continuous Tense forms.

Will have started, will have decided are the Future Perfect Tense forms.

Today in the lesson we’ll revise these two tenses:

-                     their formation;

-                     their usage;

-                     time markers that help us to define them in the sentence.

First let’s revise the formation of the Future Continuous Tense.

Complete the table.

Now check how well you remember the rule.

I will be (I’ll) watching TV.

Pay attention to the Spelling!

To make negatives we need to put NOT after will – will not be or won’t be for short.

He will not (won’t) be watching TV.

We form questions by putting Will before the subject.

Will she be watching TV?

Short answers:

Yes, she will. / No, she won’t.

Now let’s look at the formation of the Future Perfect Tense.

Complete the table.

Let’s check.

We form the Future Perfect Tense with the help of will + have and regular forms of the main verb (by putting the ending –ed to the main verb.) or irregular forms of the main verb (using the list of irregular verbs or learning them by heart).

I will (I’ll) have finished a report.

She will have left school.

We form negations by putting not between will and have.

I will not (won’t) have finished a report.

She will not (won’t) have left school.

We form questions by putting will before the subject.

Will you have finished a report?

Will she have left school?

Short answers:

Yes, she will. / No, she won’t.

Now, let’s revise the usage of these tenses.

Future Continuous

1. Future Continuous is used for actions which will be in progress at a stated future time.

At this time tomorrow I’ll be flying to Canada.

She will be lying on a beach this time next week.

I’m not free at six o’clock tomorrow. I’ll be watching the match on TV.

2. Future Continuous is used for an action which will definitely happen in the future as a result of a routine or an arrangement.

Don’t call Maggie. I’ll be seeing her later. I’ll pass the message on. (They have arranged the meeing tonight.)

I’ll be playing golf on Friday. (I play golf every Friday – It’s part of my routine)

3. The Future Continuous can be used to ask questions in a polite and indirect manner when we want to know what someone's plans for the near future are. (What we want to know is if our wishes fit in with their plans.).

Will you be driving to town this afternoon? Can you give me a lift?

Excuse me.  Will you be using this chair? If you're not using it, may I take it?

Will you be working this evening? How about going to the cinema?

Will you be going out later? Could you get me a sandwich, please?

The Future Continuous tense is commonly used with the following time markers: while, when, this time tomorrow, this time next week, in the afternoon, next month, next week, next year etc.

The Future Perfect is used for an action which will be finished before a stated future time.

They will have finished building their house by March.

They will have left home by the time you get there.

I will have done all my homework before 5 o’clock.

Note:

By not till/until are used with Future Perfect.

Till/Until are normally only used with Future Perfect in negative sentences.

She will have written it by next week. (NOT: till/until)

She won’t have graduated until May. (NOT: by May)

Time expressions that are commonly used with the Future Perfect:

By

By the time / by then

Before

By tomorrow / 7 o'clock/ next month

Allan: Hi, guys! Now it’s time to practice the rule.

Interviewer: Excuse me, guys. Can I ask you one question for the school magazine?

Allan: Yes, sure.

Interviewer: What do you think life will be like in the future?

Allan: By the end of this decade, mobile phones will have changed a lot. I think they will become much smaller and instead of a screen they will have a holographic projection.

Harry: Air pollution is a big problem now. I think, we will have to find new sources of energy. In ten or twenty years, we’ll be driving biofuel or solar powered cars.

Kate: By the time I’m thirty, I will have spent a holiday in space. Many scientists believe that in the future, people will be able to spend their holidays in special hotels on the moon. It will be the trendiest place for young married couples to spend their honey … moon!

Interviewer: Thank you, guys! Your ideas are great!

Harry: You’re welcome!

Harry: That`s all for today.

Join us at our grammar lessons at videouroki.net.

By the end of the course on English Grammar you’ll have had a good understanding of all grammar notions!