The Future Perfect Continuous is normally used to predict the length of an activity — as if looking back at such activity from some finished time in the future:

 

By July, Cindy will have been working in this office for a year (‘for a year’ is an imagined finished time in the future, but Cindy will continue her work after it).

To make the Future Perfect Continuous, use:

 

Will have been + the ‘-ing’ form of the verb.

 

Singular	Plural
I will have been doing You’ll have been doing He/she/it’ll have been doing	We’ll have been doing You’ll have been doing They’ll have been doing

 

By the time I arrive home, I will have been driving for six hours.

 

By this time next month, I’ll have been studying English for a year.

 

Melissa will have been cooking all day long before the wedding cake is ready.

 

The Future Perfect is used to talk about an event or action that will be finished before a certain event or time in future:

 

They will have built the house (the house will be ready) by February (‘by’ here means ‘before’).

 

To make the Future Perfect, use:

 

Will have + the past participle form of the verb.

 

Singular	Plural
I will have (I’ll have) finished You’ll have finished He/she/it will have finished	We’ll have finished You’ll have finished They’ll have finished

 

Jack will have read all his books by next month.

 

The next time you see me, I’ll have had a haircut.

 

We are late! The play will have started by the time we get to the stadium.

 

The Future Continuous is used to describe an event or action that will be in progress at a given time in the future.

 

This event or action will start before the given time and may continue after it.

 

Right now Daniel is working in a cafe (Present Continuous).

In 3 years’ time he hopes he will be running his own restaurant (Future Continuous).

 

To make the Future Continuous, use:

 

will be + the “-ing” form of the verb

 

Singular	Plural
I will (I’ll) be waiting You’ll be waiting He/she/it’ll be waiting	We’ll be waiting You’ll be waiting They’ll be waiting

 

This time next week I’ll be walking in the parks of Versailles.

 

Tom will be starting school in September.

 

The Future Continuous is also used in  neutral questions — to ask for information, but not to make a request.

 

Consider the following examples:

 

Neutral question	Request
Will you be passing by the new grocery store? They have a wide selection of tea on sale.	Will you pass by the new grocery store, please? We’ve run out of tea.
Will you be attending the meeting this afternoon? Several interesting speakers are expected.	Will you attend the meeting this afternoon, please? They’ll discuss the topics of your interest.

 

The Future Continuous can sometimes be formed with ‘going to’ instead of ‘will’, but this is less common:

 

I‘m going to be studying all day long.

 

Do you want to go to a concert tonight? My wife’s going to be performing.

 

Shall we have lunch together on Friday? Peter and Jessica are going to be visiting our city.

 

To make questions with ‘will’, use:

 

Will + subject + base form of the verb without ‘to’:

 

Singular	Plural
Will I be fine? Will you be fine? Will he/she/it be fine?	Will we be fine? Will you be fine? Will they be fine?

 

Patrick finally dared to say: “Will you marry me, Cindy?”

 

This cake looks very small. Will it be enough for all of us?

 

‘Shall’ is normally used instead of ‘will’ when asking for a decision or making polite offers or suggestions.

 

We form questions with ‘shall’ like this:

(question word) + shall + I/we + the base form of the verb:

 

Singular	Plural
(Whom) Shall I visit? (Whom) Shall you visit? (Whom) Shall he/she/it visit?	(Whom) Shall we visit? (Whom) Shall you visit? (Whom) Shall they visit?

 

When shall I meet you?

What film shall we see?

 

Shall we have a cup of tea?

That’s a good idea.

 

You look tired. Shall I drive?

 

Note: ‘shall’ is only used with ‘I’ or ‘we’ and mostly in British English.

 

To make negative statements with ‘will’, use:

 

will not (won’t) + the base form of the verb without ‘to’:

 

Singular	Plural
I will not (won’t) eat You won’t eat He/she/it won’t eat	We won’t eat You won’t eat They won’t eat

 

It’s too late, I won’t go through that park.

 

That’s a very big pizza. We won’t finish it.

 

Pete is in New-York. He won’t travel to Brazil with us.

 

 

To make questions with ‘going to’, use:

 

‘am/is/are’ + subject + going to + main verb:

 

Jennifer is going to be at the party (positive).

 

Is Jennifer going to be at the party (question)?

 

Singular

Am I going to see them? Are you going to see them? Is he/she/it going to see them?

 

Plural

Are we going to see them? Are you going to see them? Are they going to see us?

 

Note: in short positive answers to the questions above we use only full forms of am/is/are. In short negative answers we can also use short forms of am/is/are.

 

Are you going to read a novel?

Yes, I am. (No, I’m not).

 

Is he going to play badminton in the garden?

Yes, he is. (No, he’s not or he isn’t).

 

Are they going to visit their grandparents?

Yes, they are.

(No, they’re not or they aren’t).