Future Perfect Continuous

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We use this tense to express actions that will be happening at a definite moment in the future.

Use
  1. Actions that will be in progress at a definite moment in the future.

 

 
By tomorrow I will have been saving money for a new house for 4 years.

 

Common time expressions used in the Future Perfect Continuous :

  • By tomorrow / 8 o'clock
  • This year / month / week
  • Next year / month / week
Form

Contracted forms (more)

WILL = 'LL

Example: She'll have been = she will have been

WILL + NOT = WON'T

Example: She won't have been = she will not have been


Positive sentences:

Subject + Auxiliary verb + + Auxiliary verb + Present participle
I/a dog etc. will have been going, doing (verb + ing)

We will have been driving 6 hours by the time we get home.

In the summer Mike will have been trying to find a new job for five months.

Jane will be very tired when she comes home, because she will have been flying over 24 hours.

My father and I will have been breeding sheep for 20 years tomorrow.

By the year 2020, linguists will have been studying and defining the Indo-European language family for more than 200 years.

 

Note: If duration of an activity (since April, for three hours) is unknown then the Future Continuous should be used instead of the perfect form.

 

 

Questions (interrogative sentences):
Subject + Auxiliary verb + + Auxiliary verb + Present participle ?
I/a dog etc. won't have been going, doing (verb + ing)

She won't have been writing the book for four months by the end of October.

Negative sentences seem to sound somewhat unnatural. Probably because the answer to a question like: "Will she have been teaching for 30 years this year?", would simply be "No, I don't think so".

Negative sentences:
Auxiliary verb + Subject + + Auxiliary verb + Present participle
will I/a dog etc. have been going, doing (verb + ing)

Will he have been writing the composition for a month by the end of February?

Questions beginning with "how long" are more common:

How long will you have been learning German this year?

How long will you have been trying to get your driving license this week? I hope you'll finally make it!


Test your understading

Future Perfect vs. Future Perfect Continuous


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