Unit 3.2
Future Perfect Continuous
Tenses
We use future perfect continuous tense to talk about a continuous action that will be completed at some point in the future. It is often used with time expressions.
Future perfect continuous has these three forms:
Affirmative
Its structure, in the affirmative form, is:
Subject + will + have + been + present participle + …
| SUBJECT | FUTURE SIMPLE | AUXILIARY VERB | BEEN | PRESENT PARTICIPLE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I/You/He/She/It/We/You/They | will | have | been | walking |
Negative
Its structure, in the negative form, is:
Subject + will not + auxiliary verb (have) + been + present continuous + …
- Negative short form is: won’t.
| SUBJECT | FUTURE SIMPLE + NOT | AUXILIARY VERB | BEEN | PRESENT PARTICIPLE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I/You/He/She/It/We/You/They | will not | have | been | walking |
Interrogative
Its structure, in the interrogative form, is:
Will + Subject + have + been + present continuous + …?
| FUTURE SIMPLE | SUBJECT | AUXILIARY VERB | BEEN | PRESENT PARTICIPLE | QUESTION MARK |
| Will | I/You/He/She/It/We/You/They | have | been | walking | …? |
- I won’t have been investing in architecture by the end of 2020.
- The company will have been already trading for 2 weeks after the new manager’s arrival.
- They will have been negotiating for 3 years this summer.
- After the new manager arrival, the company still won’t have been trading.
- Will the company have been trading for 2 weeks after the new manager arrival?
We use future perfect continuous to talk about a continuous action that will be completed at some point in the future.
We can use time expressions such as for two minutes, for 5 years, since Saturday…
We can use future perfect to show the relation of cause and effect.
We use future perfect continuous to talk about a continuous action that will be completed at some point in the future and to show the relation of cause and effect. We can use time expressions such as for two minutes, for 5 years, since Saturday…
We can use it in its different forms:
- Affirmative: We start with the subject followed by will have been and the present participle.
- Negative: We start with the subject followed by will not have been and the present partciple.
- Interrogative: We start with will followed by the subject followed by have been and the present participle (the sentence ends with a question mark).
The structure of future perfect continuous is:
- Affirmative: subject + will + have + been + present participle + …
- Negative: subject + will not + auxiliary verb (have) + been + present continuous + …
- Interrogative: will + Subject + have + been + present continuous + …?
For example:
— “They will have been negotiating for 3 years this summer.“