UNIT
9
Future continuous; Future perfect
FUTURE CONTINUOUS *
FUTURE PERFECT
Affirmative
I’ll be waiting.
We’ll have arrived.
Negative
He won’t be sleeping.
She won’t have finished.
Interrogative
Will it be snowing?
Will they have graduated?
Short answers
Yes, I / you / he / she / it / we / you / they will. No, I / you / he / she / it / we / you / they won’t.
* Do not use this tense with state verbs ➝ I will be in Paris by this time tomorrow. (not: I will be being...) USAGE AND EXAMPLES • Both the Future continuous (will be doing) and the Future perfect (will have done) are used when we project ourselves forward into the future. NOW
Future perfect
Future continuous
By this time tomorrow I will have passed my exam and I will be flying to New York. (I am imagining my situation by this time tomorrow: the exam will be over and the action in progress will be flying to New York) • These two tenses are often used with future time expressions with by (like by the time, by then, by this/next time) FUTURE CONTINUOUS • The Future continuous refers to an action or event in progress at a certain moment in the future. This time next Friday we’ll be lying in the sun on a sandy beach in the Caribbean. • It is often used when talking about events that will happen if everything goes as planned or talking about trains and planes arriving or leaving from stations and airports: I’ll be going to the swimming pool three times a week this semester, so I won’t have much time for rugby. The 6,45 train for York will be leaving from Platform 6. • It can be used when you guess that something is happening now. Don’t call Ellen now: she’ll be having a shower. • It can also be used to ask about future plans, in a polite, tactful way. Will you be having dinner with us tomorrow Mr Jameson? FUTURE PERFECT • The Future perfect refers to an action that will already be over at a certain moment in the future. The book must be taken back by Thursday. - Don’t worry: by then we’ll have already returned it. • The Future perfect simple is used when we talk about one’s achievements at a certain moment in the future. I hope I’ll have finished university by 2017. • We can also use this tense to guess what must already have happened now. Let’s call a taxi. Our bus will have left by now.
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