Future perfect continuous

Neil
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Grammar with me, Neil.

Finn
And me, Finn.

Neil
Today’s programme is all about the future perfect continuous tense.

Finn We’ll tell you when to use it…

Neil How to form it…

Finn And how it differs from the future perfect tense.

Neil Let’s start with an example of the future perfect:

Rob This time next year, I’ll have finished my course.

Neil Here, the action - finishing the course - will be completed before a particular time in the future - this time next year.

Finn OK. And now for the future perfect continuous:

Rob In January, I’ll have been studying for three years.

Neil Here, the action - studying - goes right up to the specified time and will probably continue afterwards.

Finn So, we use the future perfect continuous rather than the future perfect when we want to focus on the continuous nature of the activity and how long it will be going on for.

Neil We often use the future perfect continuous with for plus an amount of time. So, in the earlier example, we had for three years .

Finn Let’s have some more examples of the future perfect continuous:

Rob Tomorrow I ‘ll have been working here for six months.

In July we ‘ll have been living in Dubai for two years.

By the time the bus gets here, we ‘ll have been waiting over an hour.

Neil Notice that the last example didn’t have for , as we don’t always have to include it.

Finn Now, we usually use a time phrase with both tenses to state the particular time in the future. These often start with by or in . Listen to these examples:

Rob By 2020 the city ‘s population will have doubled.

In June I ‘ll have been unemployed for five months.

Finn You can use by or in … with any future day, date, month, season or special day.

Neil For the future perfect continuous, the time phrases sometimes begin with in or on :

Rob On Sunday , he’ll have been travelling for three weeks.

Finn We often use when or by the time in time phrases with both tenses. Listen to these examples:

Rob When your train gets in , we’ll have been waiting for over two hours.

By the time you get home, the chicken will have been cooking for two hours.

By the time you get back , we’ll have had dinner.

Finn Notice that when and by the time are followed by a verb. This verb is in the present simple, not the future.

Neil Now, as well as predicting future events and situations, we can also use the future perfect and future perfect continuous to say what we imagine might or might not have happened:

Rob They won ‘t have arrived yet. They only left twenty minutes ago.

Sam didn’t come home last night. He ‘ll have been working all night to finish his report.

Neil In the first example, we assume that they haven’t arrived yet, based on the knowledge that they only left 20 minutes ago.

Finn And in the second example, we imagine that Sam has been working all night because he didn’t come home last night.

Neil We form the future perfect with subject plus will or won ‘t plus have and the past participle of the main verb.

Rob By the summer I ‘ll have finished all my exams.

The film won ‘t have started yet.

Finn For the future perfect continuous, it’s subject plus will or won ‘t plus have plus been plus the present participle .

Rob They won ‘t have been watching the match as they are on holiday.

Neil For future perfect questions, it’s will or won ‘t plus subject plus have plus the past participle .

Rob Will you have managed to read all the reports by this afternoon?

Neil Asking questions in the future perfect continuous is more usually done with question tags, so the order is the same as for statements.

Rob He won ‘t have been working all day, will he?

Finn Question words can also be used in which case it’s will plus subject plus have plus been plus present participle .

Rob What will they have been talking about?

IDENT 6 Minute Grammar from BBC Learning English

Finn We’re talking about the future perfect continuous tense.

Neil To recap, we use the future perfect continuous to talk about something that will be going on at a particular time in the future…

Finn Or to say what we assume has or hasn’t already happened.

Neil Now it’s time for our quiz. Which is correct a or b. Are you ready?

Finn Let’s go.

Neil Number one. a) It’s only six o’clock. They won’t have arrived yet. b) It’s only six o’clock. They won’t have been arriving yet.

Finn
And this one is a).

Neil Correct. Number two. a) On Tuesday I’ll have been worked here for two years. b) On Tuesday I’ll have been working here for two years.

Finn And this one is b).

Neil That’s right. Finally, number three. a) When you will visit, we’ll have been living here for six months. b) When you visit, we’ll have been living here for six months.

Finn
And this one is b) as well.

Neil Correct. And it’s the end of the show. There’s lots more about this on our website at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Grammar soon.

Both Bye.