Further Future Forms
Future Forms Index / Future Forms / Will & Shall / Present Simple for Future / Future Expressions /
Further Future Forms / Future Continuous / Future Perfect / Future Perfect Continuous /
Using more complex structures to talk about the future
English uses continuous and perfect forms to talk about the future with different functions.
Future Continuous (Will + be + gerund)
Future Perfect (Will + have + participle)
Future Perfect Continuous (Will + have + been + gerund)
Future continuous : Will be + ing
We use Will be + ing (often referred to as the future continuous) to talk about actions or events that will be in progress at a specific time in the future
We will be eating dinner at 8:00pm
Find more detail on Will be + ing (Future continuous) here
Future perfect simple : Will have + participle
We use Will have + participle (often referred to as the future perfect simple) when we refer to a moment in the past from a moment in the future
We will have eaten dinner by the time you arrive
Find more detail on Will have + participle (Future perfect simple) here
Future perfect continuous : Will have + been + gerund
We use Will have + been + gerund (often referred to as the future perfect continuous) when we refer to a moment in the past from a moment in the future emphasising the duration of the activity
Come September I will have been living in Spain ten years
Find more detail on Will have + been + gerund(Future perfect simple) here
Future perfect continuous :
Will have been + ing
We use Will have been + ing (often referred to as the future perfect continuous) when we refer to the past from a moment in the future and we wish to empasise the duration of the activity or event
We will have been eating dinner for two hours when your train arrives
Find more detail on Will have been + ing (Future perfect continuous) here
Future in the past
Sometimes when we talk about the past we refer to an event or action that was in the future for the time of speaking or the time being spoken about. We use past forms to achieve this
Find more detail on Future in the past structures here