Future Continuous Tense | Learn Through a Short-Story Video

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earning grammar becomes easier when you can see it in action. Before we discuss how to form and use the Future Continuous Tense, watch this short story about Elara and Barnaby as they prepare for Zeno’s return. Through the story, you’ll discover how this tense describes actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future.

🎬 Watch the video below, then continue reading to explore the structure and usage in detail.

A. Structure of the Future Continuous Tense (shall/will be verb-ing)

We form the Future Continuous Tense using the future simple of to be (shall/will be) + the present participle (Verb–ing).

In modern English, will is commonly used for all subjects, though shall may still appear in the first person (I/we)—especially in formal or interrogative contexts.

Affirmative	I/We will be working I/We shall be working He/She/It/You/They will be working
Negative	I/We will not (won't) be working I/We shall not (shan't) be working He/She/It/You/They will not (won't) be working
Interrogative	Shall I/we be working? Will I/we be working? Will he/she/it/you/they be working?
Negative interrogative:	Will we not(Won't we) be working? Will he not (Won't he) be working?

B. Examples of the Future Continuous tense:

• At 3 o’clock, Salim will be working in the garden.
• I’ll be working hard in the office all next week.
• At this time tomorrow, I’ll be watching a soccer match.
• Amat will be doing his homework all this evening.
• You won’t be working all day tomorrow, will you?
• What will you be doing in three weeks’ time?

C. The Use of Future Continuous tense

The Future Continuous Tense is often used as an ordinary continuous tense, which indicates or predicts an action that will be happening at a specific time in the future. It is normally used with an adverb or expression of time, and expresses an action or event which starts before that time and probably continues after it.

Example

"It is 10:00 a.m. now. The students are studying in their classroom. At 11:30, they will be having a break. At 2:00 p.m., they will be sitting in their classroom again.

Tomorrow is Saturday, so there will be no class. At this time tomorrow, they will not be sitting in the classroom. Instead, they will be doing other activities. Anto will be playing tennis, Rani will be shopping, and Winda will be helping her parents in their shop."

1. To Describe Routine or Natural Future Events

   The Future Continuous is often used to describe actions that will happen naturally or routinely, not necessarily as a result of a plan or intention.

   Example

   The students will be sitting in their classroom at this time tomorrow.
   (This does not imply they plan to sit there — it simply describes what will naturally be happening.)

   This usage differs from the Present Continuous, which often refers to deliberate future arrangements.

   Present Continuous (Planned)	Future Continuous (Predicted / Natural)
   I’m meeting a new client tomorrow.	I’ll be meeting a new client tomorrow.

   In the first sentence, the meeting is a planned arrangement.
   In the second, it’s a prediction or something expected to occur in the normal course of events.

   For near-future actions, both tenses can often be used interchangeably:

   He’s leaving tomorrow. = He’ll be leaving tomorrow.
   He isn’t coming to the party. = He won’t be coming to the party.

   However, for indefinite or distant future time expressions, the Future Continuous is preferred:

   I’ll be moving to another apartment next month / next year / sometime soon.

2. To Make Polite Questions About Future Activities

   The Future Continuous can also be used in second-person question forms to sound more polite or less direct.

   Direct Question (about intentions)	Polite Question (about activities)
   Are you going to call them soon? Will you meet Mr. Hamdan?	Will you be calling them soon? Will you be meeting Mr. Hamdan?

D. Exercise

Now It’s Your Turn! 🎯

Answer all the exercises below, and click the SUBMIT button to check your score. You can review your answers, learn from your mistakes, and click RESET if you want to try again. Good luck — and keep practicing your tenses with Mister Guru!

D.1. Change the verbs in brackets into the Future Continuous tense.

1. When you arrive they the meal.
2. She him in a few minutes.
3. The leaves soon.
4. She says she the washing tomorrow.
5. We crab for supper.
6. to Surabaya again this week?
7. We dinner in thirty minutes.
8. You more about this tense after you do the exercise.
9. Hurry up! The train in a minute.
10. You are so absent-minded you your head next.

D.2. Change the verbs in bold into the Future Continuous.
(Notice the change of meaning in some sentences.)

1. I'll write to you later.
   to you later.
2. He's coming home soon.
   home soon.
3. He is lecturing on the seventeenth-century poets next.
   on the seventeenth-century poets next.
4. I shall see her tomorrow afternoon.
   her tomorrow afternoon.
5. Are you going to use this spoon?
   this spoon?
6. Will you come to the party?
   to the party?
7. When are you going to have the house painted?
   When the house painted?
8. Which school are you going to send him to?
   Which school him to?
9. You will make all the arrangements.
   all the arrangements.
10. I will not do any business with them.
    any business with them.

D.3. Choose the correct form: will + Verb 1, be going to + Verb 1, or will be + V–ing.

1. Don’t call me at 10 p.m. — I my favorite series then.
2. I think it soon; look at those dark clouds!
3. She’s tired now, but she the report before midnight, I’m sure.
4. At this time next week, we on the beach in Bali.
5. I’ve already bought the ingredients. I pizza for dinner tonight.
6. Do you think people cash in 20 years?
7. I can’t join you tomorrow morning. I my new client at 9.
8. Don’t worry. I you with your homework.
9. They to their new apartment next weekend; everything’s packed already.
10. By this time tomorrow, the students their English test.

Reference:

• Thomson & Martinet (1986). A Practical English Grammar (4th Ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Allen W. Stannard (1989). Living English Structure. Hong Kong: Longman.
• Radio Australia, English for You. Victoria: The Dominion Press.

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