Future Continuous Tense

What is the future continuous tense?

The future continuous tense is utilized to describe an action that will be ongoing at a certain future moment. This action can either begin in the future or be currently happening and extend into the future. It is constructed using the auxiliary verb “will” + be + present participle of the main verb, and it highlights the length of the action.

Structure

Like all the future tenses, English verbs do not change form to indicate future tense – instead, auxiliaries and participles in other tenses are used to express future events or actions. To create the future continuous, we use ‘will be’ or ‘is/are going to be’ + the present participle of the main verb.

For example:

• “I will be running 10 miles tomorrow.”
• “He is going to be leaving the company soon.”

In many situations, the constructions “will” or “be going to” can be used to express future actions or events with little difference in meaning. However, “will be” is usually used to indicate actions or events that are more certain to happen, whereas “going to be” implies an intended action or event. It is essential to keep in mind that the selection between “will” and “be going to” can also be influenced by the context and the speaker’s intentions.

Using the future continuous tense

The future continuous is primarily used in three ways:

• 1. To say that something will be in progress from a certain moment in the future.
• 2. To predict that something will be in progress at some point in the future (i.e., not starting at a specific time).
• 3. To describe something that is expected or predicted to continue happening from the present for an uncertain amount of time into the future.

Let’s look at examples of each of these uses.

From a certain point in the future

When expressing a future event or action that is definite using the future simple tense, it is not a forecast or expectation but a certainty. As it is certain, we often use specific time references. The future simple is constructed with the modal auxiliary verb “will” + base form of the main verb. It expresses a definite plan or decision for the future, unlike the future continuous, which only indicates a likelihood of something happening in the future.
For example:

• “This is your captain speaking; the plane will be landing in 10 minutes.” (It will begin to land starting 10 minutes from now.)
• “Please make your way to checkout counters, as the store will be closing in five minutes.” (In five minutes’ time, the store will begin to close.)
• “I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be arriving in Milan on Saturday.” (The action of arriving will begin on Saturday.)

We can also use nonspecific references in time, so long as they are not too vague or too far in the future. For instance:

• “I need to get this report finished, as the boss is going to be leaving shortly.”

The progressive future action is going to begin happening (it is not a prediction), but the time frame is not exact.

We can see, however, that this can easily turn into a prediction when we use more vague time references:

• “We will be buying our own house soon.”
• “Our kids are going to be leaving for college eventually.”

Predictions of future actions

The future simple tense is used to express a future event or action that is definite and certain, not a prediction or expectation. It is often accompanied by specific time references. The future simple is formed with the modal auxiliary verb “will” + base form of the main verb. It conveys a definite plan or decision for the future, as opposed to the future continuous which only implies a probability of something happening in the future.

• “Don’t call Paul after 7 PM; he’ll be having dinner.”
• “In 10 years, people are going to be consuming even more natural resources.” (Even though a specific time is referenced, it is far enough in the future that we can assume this isn’t a certainty.)
• “By the time we arrive home, they’ll be sleeping.”

In progress now and into the future

We can also use the future continuous to predict that an event or action is currently happening, and that it will continue for an uncertain amount of time into the future. For example:

• “Don’t call the house now, as John will be sleeping.” (We predict this to be in progress now, and that it will continue to be happening in the near future.)

If we want to describe something that is definitely happening now and will (or is expected to) continue to happen in the future, we use the adverb still after will or before going. For instance:

• “I’m so behind on this assignment. The sun is going to rise and I will still be working on it.”
• “No matter who is elected, we’re still going to be dealing with the effects of the recession for years to come.”

Types of sentences

Until now, we have examined examples of positive statements using the future continuous tense. Similar to the other tenses, it is also possible to create negative, interrogative, and negative-interrogative sentences using the future continuous tense.

Negative sentences

We form the negative of the future continuous by adding not after will or before going in the sentence. (Will and not are often contracted to won’t.)

We form the negative to achieve the opposite meaning of all the uses we’ve looked at so far. For example:

• “Contrary to our previous announcement, the store will not be closing in five minutes.” (negative certainty of a future action)
• “Don’t bother trying to get a hold of Paul after 7; he won’t be taking calls then.” (negative prediction of a future action)
• “I may be behind on this assignment, but I am not going to be working past 5 o’clock.” (negative intention of allowing a current action to progress into the future)

Interrogative sentences (questions)

To form questions in the future continuous tense, we invert the subject with “will” or “be” or when using question words such as “what”, “where”, “when” and so on. The word “who” remains at the beginning of the sentence and becomes the subject of the sentence.

We most often use interrogative sentences in the future continuous tense to politely inquire about information:

• “Will you be joining us after dinner?”
• “What will they be doing in Mexico?”
• “Who is going to be performing at the concert?”

Negative interrogative sentences

Negative-interrogative sentences are used to ask a question while implying that the speaker expects or believes the answer should be “yes.” In the future continuous tense, this is used to create a polite inquiry. We form these by using the interrogative form and adding “not” after the subject. For example, “Will you not be working tomorrow?” implies that the speaker expects or believes the answer should be “no.” However, this is considered a formal construction—more often in modern English, will and the forms of be are contracted with not to create won’t, isn’t, or aren’t, all of which come before the subject:

• “Will you not be joining us after dinner?” (more formal, but less common)
• “Won’t we be leaving after the concert?” (less formal, but more common)
• “Is he not going to be studying for an exam?” (more formal, sometimes used for emphasis)
• “Aren’t you going to be working next week?” (less formal, but more commonly used)

We do not use question words with negative interrogative sentences in the future continuous tense.