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How to Avoid Misunderstandings in English

Hello. I’m Aly. In today’s video we’re looking at the future continuous. When can we use it and… Oh my god it did work. Hey Aly, I’m you from the future. Oh my god, I figured out time travel. What’s the future like? Are there dog there? Well, I mean you’ll be figuring out in like ten minutes. Don’t worry. Today, I’m going to be time traveling, today. Yes, yes, in fact, from now until the end of this lesson, you’ll be thinking about how to time travel. But, actually you already own a time machine. Whoa, this is too much. I mean, will you be staying for the lesson? No, no, I’ve literally just done all of this and I’ll be editing it all day, probably. Look I should go right now, so bye. Okay, bye then. Let’s start the lesson I suppose. A time machine.

Did I just imagine that? The future continuous: What is it? How do we use it? And when do we use it? Let’s have a look. First, nice and easy the form. Will and be going to, those are future forms, right? Okay, so, that’s the future and continuous forms need the verb be and that next verb needs to be in the “ing” form. Put all of this together, you have the future continuous or future progressive, it’s the same thing. Some teachers will say, you always, always need a time reference with a future continuous sentence. I mean yes, but also no. Not always. There are exceptions. This is English. But, don’t worry. I will explain exactly when you need the time reference and when you don’t need it. I can show you right now, it’s much easier. For example, you’re at your friend’s house and they want to know, hey when are you leaving. Maybe you’re an annoying friend. They want to know. So, you give a time reference, tomorrow. You can put this time reference at the beginning. You can put it at the end. So, tomorrow I’ll be leaving or I’ll be leaving tomorrow. Fine, but if we don’t include the time reference what happens? Is it wrong? Let’s have a look.

I say to you. Okay, I’ll be leaving. Without a time reference, you would assume that I mean right now, I’m leaving right now. So, for that reason, it’s best to be clear what time you mean. The exception is, if you both understand when you’re talking about then you don’t need a time reference.

Okay, maybe you’ve seen my future forms video. If you haven’t, click here to watch that. It will really help with this lesson. But, if you have seen that then you already know that using present continuous to talk about future situations, just adds certainty to that situation. Well, it’s the same with future continuous. Let’s compare: Oh, I’am fighting tonight, you’re gonna watch me fight. Notice that he used present continuous, “I’m fighting” because it’s a definite, definite plan, 100% he is fighting tonight. Sure, I’ll watch. This is future simple, It’s normal, I’ll watch. Maybe she’s certain maybe she’s not. It doesn’t really matter. Depends how she says it.

But, let’s change this for future continuous. Sure I’ll be watching. See how it changes? Now there’s a certainty to it with the future simple. Maybe it’s definite. Maybe not. But, with future continuous it works in that same way as present continuous. Now, it’s certain. Sure, I’ll be watching. It’s kind of like a promise. Remember that video if you haven’t watched it. Definitely watch it. Also notice that there’s no time reference here. She doesn’t need to say tonight because we already know when this is happening. We don’t need the time reference.

It’s the same in this situation: you want to talk to your friend, but your friend is working and they say don’t worry, I’ll, I’ll call you after work. They used future simple. It’s kind of a promise, right? And you can reply with: okay, great, I’ll be waiting. Definitely going to wait. Also if we compare that to the simple. Okay, great, I’ll wait. This way again, it might be fine but it might sound not certain. It might even sound annoyed, like she’s annoyed. Honestly it just depends how you say it. But, if you think about, in a text or in an email, you can’t see that person’s face. You don’t really know how they feel. You don’t know how they mean it. So, it’s always best to be clear. For that reason if you just want to say: definitely I’ll do this thing, definitely, definitely, definitely, use future continuous. It’s, it’s clear and there’s no miscommunication.

Now most commonly we use future continuous just to talk about what is happening at a specific future point in time. For example, if your friend wants to know what are you doing in the future at a specific time. For example, tomorrow 5:00 p.m. Are you busy? We’re talking about this time. It’s future. This specific time, 5:00 p.m. What is your action around that moment? Future continuous. I won’t be doing anything. Again, no time reference needed because we both know we’re talking about that specific time. If he wants to say actually, this time I’m at work from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. That’d be a weird time to work. But, how could he say that? Mmm, tomorrow at 5 p.m. I’ll be working. So, we’ve got a negative sentence and a positive sentence. That’s how it works. That example is probably the most common way that we use future continuous and let’s change this continuous to a simple. Let’s see if it changes the meaning. I removed the continuous and now it’s a simple. I won’t do anything. This sounds like you’re refusing to do something, right? That’s not what you mean. So, again be clear. Don’t be misunderstood. Use future continuous if that is the situation that you mean.

Okay, let’s practice for you. This Saturday what are you going to be doing? Let me know in the comments. Type your own sentence. So, for example, this Saturday at 9 p.m. I’ll be drinking with friends. This Saturday at 9 p.m. I’ll be dancing to cheesy music. And let’s take this a step further, in the comments if you see someone’s comment that’s like this Saturday at 9 p.m. I’ll be dancing and drinking and you want to compare your action to theirs, you can reply with, well while you’re drinking, I’ll be sleeping. Notice I said this verb in the present tense. This one is future continuous. Why? The word while. The next verb form should be present. While you’re drinking, while you’re doing something. So, while with present continuous means future. And this is future continuous because we’re saying what will be happening at the same time as this action. Oh my god, I booked a holiday to Spain. This time next week, I’ll be sunbathing and drinking on the beach. This time next week. This time next month, I’ll be working at a new job. Okay, okay, okay in the comments, write in the comments, um, what will you be doing this time next year?

Ooh challenge, come back to this video next year, see if it came true. That’d be fun. For me, this time next year I’ll be looking for a dog to adopt. This form can also make questions sound more polite. I know it’s weird, right? So imagine that you are going to have dinner with your friend and your friend has a very annoying girlfriend called Megan. But, you want to know, ah is Megan coming to dinner too or no? Okay, this question, yeah, it could sound normal, like: oh are you bringing Megan to dinner? That’s fine, but, could sound annoyed. For example, the way he means it. Oh, are you bringing Megan to dinner? So, again it depends how you say it. But, let’s compare that same question. Let’s just change it to future continuous. Oh, will you be bringing Megan? This way sounds more polite. It, I know it’s weird but it adds distance between the speaker and the receiver of the question. This is not a very casual way to ask a question, no, it does sound more polite. So, keep that in mind. Not just questions, this form can also make statements and requests, sound more polite or formal too. For example, if you’re at work your boss gives you some documents. She gives you some documents to work with and she says this: Sorry John, I’ll be needing those documents finished before the end of today. This sounds much more polite and much less direct than if you said it in simple. So, again remove the continuous form, you just have simple. I’ll need those documents finished before the end of today. That sounds more direct.

So, it’s the same request but again, adding that future continuous, just adds a bit of politeness to your request, statement, question, whatever. Also, also, also notice that, that’s a stative verb, why am I using that in continuous? You’re not allowed to use stative verbs in continuous. Wrong, wrong. Sometimes there are exceptions. For example: I’ll be needing those documents before the end of today. That’s fine. Sometimes you can use stative verbs, sometimes in the continuous form. Another example could be this: Uh-oh office romance. Will you be wanting to get dinner tonight? Let’s get Thai. Again stative verb, want, but in this case, in this context, yeah, you can use it in continuous, it’s fine. Using the future continuous can add a long duration to an action. An example: your friend wants to do something fun but you have a project, an assignment. You have to start working today. So, you tell your friend, I’m sorry, I can’t do anything fun because I’m working on my project today, yay. Oh that sucks. Well, let’s do something tomorrow then. But no, this project is not one day, it’s not a short thing. It’s going to take a long time. So, she can say this: see by using that future continuous tense you put emphasis on a long time for that action. Finally, you can use this form for guesses. When you suppose something is happening right now. I know using future continuous to talk about right now, that’s weird. I know, English is weird, I’m sorry but a question like: what do you think Ally’s doing right now? Hmm 10 p.m. He’ll probably be sleeping now. This is showing it’s a guess, emphasized by that word probably. So, we’re guessing, we suppose what’s happening now, using future continuous. I know it’s weird, sorry. So I have another two questions for you in the comments. Number one: what do you suppose, what do you think, what do you guess, the queen is doing right now? And two: ask me a very polite question, using that structure, using that form.