Future Perfect Continuous Tense

The future perfect continuous tense is formed with the future perfect tense of the verb to be (shall/will have been) + a present participle (verb + -ing). 

The future perfect continuous tense is used:

to indicate the length of time that an action continues in the future.

Examples:

• At noon tomorrow, my uncle will have been driving a hearse for fifteen years.
• My uncle will have been researching in Antarctica for exactly ten years next Sunday.

to show an action in progress until an event happens in the future. Here, a time clause is used. The future perfect continuous tense may come either before or after the time clause.

Examples:

• By the time he comes home at the end of the year, he will have been studying overseas for five years.
• He will have been studying overseas for five years by the time he comes home at the end of the year.
  (Time clause: by the time he comes home at the end of the year; main clause: he will have been studying overseas for five years. A comma is placed at the end of a time clause when it comes before the main clause.)

Verbs have different forms, called tenses. The tense of a verb tells us when the action happens.

Forms of Future Perfect Continuous Tense

will have been + present participle

Example:

I will have been working at the hospital for two years next month.

Contraction (short form)

I will have been	I’ll have been
You will have been	You'll have been
She will have been	She’ll have been
He will have been	He’ll have been
They will have been	They’ll have been
We will have been	We’ll have been
It will have been	It’ll have been

Example:

I’ll have been working at the hospital for two years next month

When do we use the future perfect continuous tense?

The past future continuous is similar to the future perfect, except that it expresses longer actions in the future before another action in the future.

Examples:

She will have been waiting for nearly an hour by the time the bus finally arrives.

He will have been working at the bank for a year before it finally closes.

Future Perfect Continuous Tense

The form of the future perfect continuous tense is will / shall + have +been+ -ing form of the verb. It is used for actions, which will be in progress for a period of time in the future. This tense is not very common.

Examples:
By next March, we shall have been living here for four years.
I will have been teaching for twenty years next July.

Uses

• The future perfect continuous tense is used to indicate an action is continuous, in the future.
  
  Example:
  By the end of November, Jack will have been studying at the university for four years.
• The future perfect continuous tense is used to indicate an action that is expressed as a continuous action.
  
  Example:
  By the end of this month, he will have been climbing mountains for 6 years.
  
  Note that if we mention the number of mountains (in this case), or divide the case in any way, we will have to use the future perfect.
  
  Therefore, the sentence above will change to:
  
  By the end of this month, he will have climbed 30 mountains.

Worksheet

Fill in the blanks to make the following sentences complete, by using the appropriate future tense form of the verb given in brackets.

• When I graduate, I .................. in this school for ten years. [ study ]
• By 2030, I ................. with this company for twenty five years . [ work ]
• There ................. a meeting tomorrow afternoon. [ be ]
• By the end of the month, John ................. horses for twenty years. [ train ]
• By the end of the month, John ................. 600 horses. [ train ]
• ……….you ................. me to lift the piano? [ help ]
• I ................. to the city later. [ drive ]
• ……….you ................. the same class next year? [ teach ]
• I ................. not ................. here next year. [ stay ]
• Tickets ................. at the counter. [ sell ]

Answers

• When I graduate, I will have studied in this school for ten years
• By 2030, I will have been working with this company for twenty-five years.
• There will be a meeting tomorrow afternoon.
• By the end of the month, John will have been training horses for twenty years.
• By the end of the month, John will have trained 600 horses.
• Will you help me to lift the piano?
• I will be driving to the city later.
• Will you be teaching the same class next year?
• I will not be staying here next year.
• Tickets will be sold at the counter.

• FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE Future Perfect Continuous Tense is used to express a continued or ongoing action that will start in future and is thought to be continued till sometime in future. There will be a time reference, such as “since 2002, for two hours” from which the action will start in future and will continue. • Structure for Future Perfect Continuous • subject auxiliary verb auxiliary verb auxiliary verb main verb subject (shall/will) have be/been base + ing I shall have been going. • Structure for Negative sentence • subject auxiliary verb auxiliary verb auxiliary verb main verb subject (shall/will) + not have be/been base + ing I shall not have been going. • Structure for interrogative sentence • auxiliary verb subject auxiliary verb auxiliary verb main verb (Shall/Will) subject have be/been base + ing Shall I have been going. Future Perfect Continuous is used to talk about an on-going action before some point in the future. We use the future perfect continuous tense to: express a continued or ongoing action that will start in future and to be continued till sometime in future. express on-going action before some point in the future. USES OF FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE The future Perfect Continuous indicates an action represented as being in progress over a period of time that will end in the future: Examples By next July we shall have been living here for four years. When he gets his degree, he will have been studying at IIM for 4 years. We use the future perfect continuous tense to talk about a long action before some point in the future: Examples I will have been working here for ten years next week. He will be tired when he arrives. He will have been travelling for 24 hours. I will have been watching television for three hours when you come home. FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE TABLE AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE I shall have been going. I shall not have been going. Shall I have been going? You will have been going. You will not have been going. Will you have been going? We shall have been going. We shall not have been going. Shall we have been going? He will have been going. He will not have been going. Will he have been going? She will have been going. She will not have been going. Will she have been going? They will have been going. They will not have been going. Will they have been going?

• Tense
  What is Tense? Type of tense Table of English Tenses	Tense at a glance Structure of All Tense
  Present Tense
  What Is the Present Tense? Simple Present Tense Present Continuous Tense	Present Perfect Tense Present perfect continuous tense Present Conditional Tense
  Past Tense
  What Is the Past Tense? Simple Past Tense Past Continuous Tense	Past Perfect Tense Past Perfect Continuous Tense
  Future Tense
  Future Tense Simple Future Tense Future Continuous Tense	Future Perfect Tense Future Perfect Continuous Tense Conditional Sentences