No matter how true the proverb about a disposing god is, people still stubbornly continue to make their plans. And today we will talk about how to tell the interlocutor about your immediate intentions, while emphasizing not the fact itself, but the process of performing actions, i.e. busy doing in certain time. By analogy with the already studied present tense, you probably guessed that we will talk about the continus of the future. And they will help us get acquainted with the aspect of the future continuous examples specific situations, construction diagrams and explanatory comparisons.

Building sentences with Future Continuous

The future continuous tense requires the construction of a compound predicate consisting of three elements: the auxiliary will, the verb to be (without to) and the invariable participle I.

• Jack (1) will (2) be (3) writing (4) tests at exactly this time tomorrow – Jackwill bewritetomorrowtestsexactlyinthis istime.

The design is easy to remember and recognize in the future. Its use also does not cause problems, because. the combination is the same for absolutely all types of pronouns and nouns. Often in colloquial and writing the abbreviated form will ⟶ ‘ll is used (you’ll be…, we’ll be… etc.).

Interrogative sentences using the future continuous are formed, as in other English aspects of the future, by breaking up the predicate and moving will to the beginning of the sentence. At the same time, to be and participle I remain in their original places.

• Will (1) Jessica (2) be (3) painting (4) the picture the whole evening? Will Jessica paint this picture all evening?

If there is a special interrogative word, will gives it the first place in the expression.

• What will your brother be doing at 12 o'clock tomorrow? – Howyourbrotherwill bebusytomorrowat 12hours?

Negations in the continuous future are built using not. It is placed directly after will, resulting in a shortened form of won't. Note that with 1 person ( pronounsI, we) in English, instead of will, the auxiliary shall is used. For such situations, the abbreviated expression is shan't.

We (1) will (2) not (3) be (4)working (5) on Tuesday-Wenotwe willworkinTuesday.

If the context so requires, a combination of negative and interrogative forms in one sentence. In this case, will comes forward, and not remains before the verb to be. But the abbreviated constructions won’t / shan’t are not separated, but are completely transferred to the beginning of the sentence.

• Will she not be playing the violin tomorrow in the morning? -She isnotwill beplayon theviolintomorrowin the morning?
• Won't you be driving to the dacha in the evening? -Younotyou will goin the eveningon thedacha?

So, we have learned how to build future continuous tense constructions for various purposes. It remains to consider the cases of using this tense, and our English will be replenished with one more mastered grammatical category.

Future Continuous examples of sentence contexts

For this time, several main cases of use can be distinguished. Consider them using the future continuous table containing examples taken from everyday speech and revised with translation into Russian. In addition, the material contains signal words by which this temporal aspect can be easily recognized.

Usage Future Continuous
Situation	Example	Translation
1. Expression of the performance of some action or the occurrence of events in the future associated with a specific time indicator. Both time circumstances and other events/actions can act as a pointer.	I will be studying English from 4 till 6 o'clock on Monday. her son will be playing football when she goes to the post office. Alex will be watching these movies all day tomorrow.	I will study English on Monday from 4 to 6 pm. Her son will play football when she goes to the post office. Alex will be watching these films all day tomorrow.
2. Designation of the period of execution of a long action. The process is considered to be a single process, even if it is logically clear that the action is carried out intermittently.	We will be repairing the boat during next week. Will you be rehearsing this song every month? He will be reading the War and Peace for two months.	We will be repairing the boat all next week. Will you be rehearsing this song for the whole month?
3. Expression of two parallel actions in the future.	While my brother is doing his homework, I will be watching the cartoons. She won't be washing the dishes and I shan't be washing the car in the evening.	While my brother will do his homework I will watch cartoons. She won't do the dishes tonight, and I won't wash the car.
4. Foreseeable actions or events that will occur in the near future.	We must call right now or our parents will be worrying. I am sure they will be writing me about their pets again.	We have to call right now or our parents will be worried. I am sure that they will write to me again about their pets.
Time markers: at this time, at… o’clock tomorrow; all day, in the evening/morning; in…hours, days; from…till today, tomorrow and etc.

Please note that the examples of various sentences given in the future continuous can also be used in the Future Simple form. But the semantic difference lies in the fact that in the continuum we focus on the process that will continue in specified time, and in the simple the fact of the actions performed is important.

• I will be playing atthistime - I will play at this time(the process of the game is a long action, with an indication of time).
• I will play tomorrow - I will play tomorrow(the fact of the action, without specifying the time and duration of the event).

Future tenses in English language have one common verb- will, which facilitates the perception, study and use of this group of tenses. Future Continuous is no exception. In English, the name of the time Future Continuous speaks for itself - it's mix and. Consider the structure and use of the English Future Continuous time using many examples with translation into Russian.

Future continuous. Examples:

I will be signing the contract tomorrow at 10 a.m. Tomorrow at 10 am I will be signing the contract.

? Will she be having dinner when I come back home? Will she have dinner when I get back?

— He will not be preparing for his examination in June. He will not study for the exam in June.

Marker words for Future Continuous

(read more about marker words in the article):

at 5 o'clock(at five o'clock), at none(on midday), at midnight(at midnight), at that moment(at that moment), all day long(all day), all day tomorrow(all day tomorrow) all the time(all time), the whole evening(all evening), from six till seven(from six to seven) while(while).

THE FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE
(THE FUTURE PROGRESSIVE)

Future long tense

Affirmative form Future Continuous
+

Structure
You(you you) We(we) they(they) He(he) She(she is) It(he, she, it is about animals and objects)	will be Ving
Examples	Translation
This time tomorrow I will be sitting in a cafe.	Tomorrow at the same time I will be sitting in a cafe.
We will be listening to the music when he comes back.	We will listen to music when he returns.
they will be going to England on Sunday.	On Sunday they will go to England.

Interrogative form Future Continuous
?

Structure
	you(you you) we(we) they(they) he(he) she(she is) it(it)	be Ving?
Examples		Translation
Will you be cooking tomorrow in the afternoon? – Yes, I will. (No, I won't.)		Will you cook food tomorrow afternoon? - Yes. (Not.)
Will they be swimming at that time? - No, they won't. (Yes, they will.)		Will they be swimming at that time? - Not. (Yes.)
Will he be arriving at 6 a.m.? – Yes, he will. (No, he won't.)		Does he arrive at 6 am? - Yes. (Not.)

Wh-?
Special questions in Future Continuous

(begin with special words)

Structure
How many (much, far…)		you(you you) we(we) they(they) he(he) she(she is) it(it)	be Ving?
Examples		Translation
What will they be doing this time tomorrow?		What will they be doing at the same time tomorrow?
		Where will your friends go shopping?
Who will she be meeting in 3 hours?		Who is she dating in 3 hours?

negative form
Future Continuous
—

Structure
You(you you) We(we) they(they) He(he) She(she is) It(it)	will not (won't)	be Ving?
Examples		Translation
I won't be ordering a pizza from 9 till 10 a.m.		I will not order pizza from 9 to 10 in the morning.
He won't be reading the book at that time.
She won't be studying in the library all evening.		She won't be studying in the library all evening.

Interrogative-negative form
Future Continuous
(Speaking)
?-

Structure
	you(you you) we(we) they(they) he(he) she(she is)	be Ving?
Examples		Translation
Won't you be singing a song at that moment?		Won't you sing a song at that moment?
Won't they be packing things all day long?		Aren't they going to be packing all day?
Won't she be leaving for Manchester at 1 p.m. tomorrow?		Isn't she leaving for Manchester tomorrow at one o'clock?

Schematically the structure of a sentence in Future Continuous can be shown like this:

+
S+wil be Ving

?
Will + S + be Ving?

Wh-?
Wh + will + S + be Ving?

–
S + won't + be Ving

? –
Won't + S + be Ving?

Such a scheme for time Future Continuous can be printed and pasted together with others into notebook, for example. You will get a finished cheat sheet, where everything is short and concise.

Using the Future Continuous

English time Future Continuous used:

1. To designate long term in the future that will occur at some point or time in the future.

— This time tomorrow we ‘ll be lying on the beach. Tomorrow at the same time we will be lying on the beach.

— She will still be having lunch at 2 p.m. At 2 pm she will still be having lunch.

This is a long-term action in the future can be interrupted by another action, which can be either a real physical interruption or a pause in time.

— We ‘ll be studying at the library when the teacher comes. We will study in the library when the teacher comes.

Important!

Note that in the relative clauses of time (when…), it is used (when the teacher COMES) and not (when the teacher will come).

2. To express parallel actions that will occur simultaneously in the future.

— While Kate is reading, Mike will be watching a cartoon. While Katya is reading, Mike will be watching a cartoon.

3. For expression intentions, assumptions or future events.

— He 'll be arriving at none. He arrives at noon.

— We 'll be coming back from Greece on Tuesday. We will be returning from Greece on Tuesday.

— I'm sorry, I can't come to your party as I 'll be working on that day. I'm sorry I can't come to your party because I'll be working that day.

4. For polite questions - if you want to know about someone intentions should always be used Future Continuous, but not Future Simple. By using Future Simple, the speaker means own wish, thus influencing the response of the other. By using Future Continuous the question becomes more objective, devoid of pressure.

Will you come to the party? (= I want you to come to the party.) Are you coming to the party?

Will you be coming to the party? (= I just want to know.) Are you coming to the party?

affirmative form Future continuous tense formed with the help of the auxiliary verb to be in the future tense (shall be for the 1st person singular and plural and will be for all other persons) + Participle I (participle I or ing form) of the main verb.

shall be, will be + Participle I

I shall be working. I will work.
He will be writing. He will write.

I shall be cooking	We shall be cooking
You will be cooking	You will be cooking
He/she/it will be cooking	They will be cooking

negative form Future Continuous is formed by adding a negation not to the auxiliary verb shall for the 1st person singular and plural and will for all other persons + be + Participle I of the main verb.

I shall not be sleeping at 7 o'clock. I won't be sleeping at 7 o'clock.
Not will not be working all day tomorrow. He won't be working all day tomorrow.

I shall not be cooking	We shall not be cooking
You will not be cooking	You will not be cooking
He / she / it will not be cooking	They will not be cooking

Interrogative form Future Continuous is formed by rearranging the auxiliary verb and the subject of the affirmative form - the auxiliary verb is placed before the subject. If available question word, it is placed before the auxiliary verb.

Will you be sleeping at 7 o'clock. Will you sleep at 7 o'clock?
What will you be doing from 5 till 7 p.m. tomorrow? What will you be doing tomorrow from 5 to 7 pm?

Shall I be cooking?	Shall we be cooking?
Will you be cooking?	Will you be cooking?
Will he/she/it be cooking?	Will they be cooking?

In interrogative and negative sentences in the Future Continuous form, often, especially in colloquial speech, abbreviated forms are used:

• 1. In affirmative sentences, the auxiliary verb is subject to change, in which only the last two letters remain, separated from the pronoun by an apostrophe.

I’ll be working on Sunday from 10 till 12
(I'll be working… = I shall/will be working…)
He'll be playing chess at 6 o'clock. He will be playing chess at 6 o'clock.
(He'll be… = Not will be…)

• 2. In negative sentences, the spelling and pronunciation of auxiliary verbs change - they merge with a negative particle not, with the middle letter o omitted.

I shan't be working from 10 till 12.
(I shan't be working… = I shall not be working…)
He won't be playing chess at 6 o'clock. He won't be playing chess at 6 o'clock.
(He won't be playing… = He won't be playing…)

Use

• 1. Future Continuous is used to express a long (continued) action that will take place in certain moment in the future (near or distant). This moment may

a) to be implied, to be clear from the context.

Our work is not finished yet and we shall be working on this subject.
Our work is not finished yet, and we will work on this problem.

b) be expressed by the circumstances of time: at that time - at that time, at 5 o'clock - at 5:00, all day tomorrow - all day tomorrow, all the time - all time, from 6 till 8 - from 6 to 8 o'clock etc.

I shall be waiting for my friends at 12 o'clock tomorrow. I will be waiting for my friends tomorrow at 12 o'clock.
All day tomorrow we shall be sleeping in the train on our way to the South. Tomorrow we will sleep all day on the train on the way south.
She will be taking her exam next week. She will take her exams next week.

• 2. Future Continuous is used in the subordinate clause of time and conditions to express a long time in the future, and the verb in the main clause is expressed in Simple Present / Present Indefinite, although it also refers to the future tense.

I shall be working when you come to see me. When you come to me, I will work.
When I reach Moscow, it will probably be snowing. When I arrive in Moscow, it may be snowing.

Study the topic Future Continuous follows, perhaps, the last in a series of times Continuous groups. That is, if you have not yet mastered the rules for the formation and use of times and, then it is better to do this before moving on to acquaintance with the future continuous tense. If other tenses of the Continuous group are familiar to you, you should thoroughly study the future continuous tense. Consider the following example:

As you can see from the example above, Mark will be watching football for a whole period of time (from 8.30 am to 10.15 am). And at any time within this period, it will perform the same action.

Future Continuous is a projection of any of the Continuous tenses into the future: the action lasts for a certain point in time or over a period of time, but all this will take place in the future. Of course, situations where it is necessary to use the Future Continuous are far from common, as they require a specific context that respects the conditions: the duration of the action, the presence of an exact moment or period of time, and, which is especially rare in speech, the situation describes the future. Here are some more examples to illustrate use Future Continuous in speech:

Sam is going on holiday on Friday. This time next week he'll be relaxing on the beach or swimming in the sea.	Sam goes on vacation on Friday. This time next week he will be relaxing on the beach or swimming in the sea.
Don't call me between 7 and 8o'clock. I 'll be having a bath.	Don't call me between7 and 8 hours. I will take a bath.
At 11 o'clock tomorrow she will be at university. She will be studying.	At 11 o'clock tomorrow she will be at the university. She will study.

Thus, Future Continuous is not one of the most common in English speech temporary forms, which, however, does not make its study optional, especially since the formation of this temporary form is very simple.

Affirmative sentence

So, how to form a predicate for affirmative proposal in Future Continuous? To do this, it is necessary to put an auxiliary before the form of the continued infinitive (Infinitive Continuous), characteristic of the future tense - will:

will be Ving

Above is a universal scheme for the formation of a predicate affirmative sentence in the future continuous tense. Shall how an auxiliary verb can be used instead will with the subject in the first person (I, we), but its use is quite rare as it is considered obsolete and preferred in interrogative sentences.

Negative sentence

If the required sentence must be negative, that is, contain particle not, this particle is attached to the verb will, which ultimately gives the abbreviated form won't (=will not).

Questions

Interrogative sentences in which the predicate is in the form of Future Continuous are also easy to form. (in questions its use for the first person is not uncommon) take place before the subject, while the continued infinitive (Infinitive Continuous) is placed after the subject. it basic circuit- scheme, changing which you can form any type of question in the Future Continuous.

As you can see from the examples, the short answer Yes/No also requires the use of will/won't. A general question in the Future Continuous is often used to ask about the interlocutor's plans for a certain moment or period in the future, as in the examples given.

Special question adds a question word to the beginning of the diagram above, for example:

Question to the subject also contains a question word (Who/What) at the beginning of the sentence, but stands out in separate type question due to the absence of a subject in its composition, or rather, the role of the subject here is played by the interrogative word Who / What:

Alternative question brings us back to the original scheme of education general question, but adds an alternative to the content of the question, that is, a choice that is expressed by the union or (or):

Separated question, added to a sentence that does not contain a negation, consists of a verb form won't and the subject expressed by the corresponding personal pronoun, for example:

When expressing doubt about what was said in a negative sentence separated question, on the contrary, takes the affirmative form: will and the subject expressed by a suitable personal pronoun, for example:

Use

The scope of the future continuous tense covers mainly prolonged action, which will unfold in the future, that is, will be in progress, at a certain point or period of time in the future. This is a rather narrow scope of the verb form. Compare for example sentences in Future Continuous and Future Simple:

Future Continuous Don't phone me at 8. We'll be having dinner then. Don't call me at 8. We'll have dinner at that time. - the action will begin before the specified point in time in the future and will most likely end after it, and at the specified time point it will be in full swing.

Greetings, my dear readers.

What do you know about the Future Continuous? We rarely come across him, but it will still be useful to know him. Today we will get to know it in great detail: through rules and examples, exercises and tests.

How is formed

As in the simple future tense, the formation of Future Continuous Tense does not cause any particular difficulties. Nothing here changes in any form. Standard sentence structure looks like this:

Subject + auxiliary verb will\shall be + predicate with –ing ending + object and circumstance

She will be waiting for her at the airport tomorrow. Tomorrow she will be waiting for her at the airport.

When I come back, you will be sleeping. - When I return, you will sleep.

Now, having understood the examples, let's see what will change in different forms suggestions.

Interrogative form
Shall I be celebrating?	Shall we be celebrating?
Will you be celebrating?	Will you be celebrating?
Will he\she\it be celebrating?	Will they be celebrating?

Highly frequently asked question among beginners or those who restore their English after school: when to use shall and when to use will? I will answer as follows: shall has its place in English as modal verb, but with regard to the future tense, it is used less and less.

Well, now, if we already know how this time is formed, it would be time to learn about its use.

When used: beginner level

• The first and most important thing to understand is that the action will take place at a specific moment in the future. Usually in such sentences the words are used:

1. This time on Monday\tomorrow\next week
2. At 9 a.m.
3. In the evening\morning
4. In a month\year

I shall be watching a movie this time on Friday evening. I will be watching a movie on Friday evening at this time.

I shall be working in a position of a head manager next year. - AT next year I will work as a senior manager.

• When we are talking about planned actions, it is not necessary to choose whether to use Future Continuous or Present Continuous.

He will be leaving for Madrid on Monday evening. = He is leaving for Madrid on Monday evening. On Monday morning he flies to Madrid.

• When we need to describe something long-term that will happen in some specific future period. Words that will help you include all day, all summer, the whole evening, from 5 till 8.

I shall be preparing for my exam all day. I will be preparing for the exam all day.

From 5 to 8 p.m. I shall be having my dance classes. - From 5 to 8 pm I will be in dance classes.

When used: level "confident user"

• When we need to describe some kind of habit in the future, we can use the Future Continuous.

I believe that in a couple of years more and more people will be working from home. - I'm sure that in a few years everything more people will work from home.

• It is important to understand the essential difference between this tense and Future Simple. When we use the former, we are talking about plans; when the latter, we are inviting. Let's look at an example.

Will you be going to our family dinner tonight? - Are you going to our family dinner tonight? (We learn about man's plans)

Will you go to our family dinner tonight? - Are you coming to our family dinner tonight? (We invite a person)

• And now a little from the household. Sometimes we can ask something from a person with the goal of asking him to do something for us. In such situations, we use the Future Continuous.

Will you be going to the bank? Pay for my phone bill, please. - Are you going to the bank? Pay my phone bill, please.

Will you be flying to India? Bring me some coconut oil please. - Are you going to India? Bring me some coconut oil, please.

Now let's talk about something serious, but with a smile: without practice, you won't get anywhere. Therefore, go ahead and consolidate the material received. There will be separate sentences, and texts, and tests - tasks for every taste.

And if something remains unclear - write me your questions in the comments. I will gladly help you. And don't miss anything important - subscribe to my blog newsletter. There I share important and useful materials first of all.

See you again, my dears.