Future continuous, also known as the future progressive tense, is used to describe a continuous action that will be in progress at a future time.
Some signal words will help recognize this tense can be, for example, this time next week/month, in an hour, or at a particular time tomorrow, e.g., at 7am tomorrow.
Construction and Conjugation
Rule 1: To form the future continuous tense, we follow the structure will + be + present participle or ing-form. The conjugation of the future continuous is the same for all forms.
Here's an overview of the positive, negative and interrogative conjugation of the future continuous tense in English:
| Person | Positive | Negative | Question |
|---|---|---|---|
| all forms are the same for both singular and plural | I will be singing | You will not be singing | Will they be singing? |
Note: In spoken and informal written English, we can use contractions in future continuous - short forms of pronouns or verbs with the word not. Here's how to create them:
| Long Form | Contraction | Example |
|---|---|---|
| will | 'll | they'll |
| will not | 'll not / won't | they'll not / they won't |
Usage
Rule 2: We use the future continuous tense to express that an action will be in progress at a certain time in the future.
Rule 3: We use the future continuous tense to express a future action that we expect to happen.
Quiz
1/4Form the future continuous tense. At this time next Monday, we ___ (fly) to Nepal.