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English Language Tips for Student Study
By Leonardo Camerlingo
CELTA Qualified English Teacher to speakers of other languages.
Grammar
Future tenses #2
The Future Perfect, Future Continuous and Future Perfect Continuous
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A: Hi Brian have you seen Mark. I really need that report
B: Hi Alex, yes I saw him a couple of minutes ago, and he told me that he will have finished the report by six o’clock.
A: Perfect. Can I ask you a favour?
B: Sure what do you need Alex?
A: I need to know how much money the company will have spent by the end of
the year.
B: Give me a minute, I’ll do the math. Let’s see… roughly, ten million.
A: That’s not very good. I guess Jane won’t be having any fun tomorrow, at the meeting.
B: I don’t care. This time tomorrow I will be lying on the beach. I’m going on vacation for two weeks.
A: Good for you Brian. Can I ask you how long you have been working here?
B: I will have been working here for ten years, by the end of next month.
A: Wow, that’s a long time.
Future perfect
Subject + will + have + past participle
The future perfect is used to indicate that an action will have been finished, or completed at some point in the future
• He will have the report finished by six o’clock.
• How much money will the company have spent by the end of the year?
Future continuous
Subject + will + be + ing
The future continuous is used to talk about an unfinished activity that will be in progress at a specific point in time in the future.
• I guess Jane won’t be having any fun this time tomorrow at the meeting.
• Tomorrow I will be lying on the beach.
Future perfect continuous
Subject + will + have been + ing
The future perfect continuous refers to events or actions in a time between now and sometime in the future, are unfinished.
• I will have been working here for ten years by the end of next month.
• Carol will have been studying for five hours by the time you arrive.
NB: You have probably noticed that for these tenses, very often the time reference is expressed through specific time clauses.
• He will have the report finished by six o’clock.
• How much money will the company have spent by the end of the year?
• Carol will have been studying for five hours by the time you arrive.
• I will have been working here for ten years by the end of next month.