Learn English Tenses: FUTURE CONTINUOUS

In this class, you will learn all about the future continuous tense, which is also called

the future progressive tense.

It has two names, but it's only one tense, alright?

Now, this class is actually part of a series created by www.engvid.com to help you learn

the English verb tenses.

So, the future continuous tense is used by native English speakers quite often and somehow,

English students don't know too much about this tense.

So, this is your chance to learn and understand this tense and to start to use it, because

it's really not hard at all.

It's actually quite easy.

So, would you like to begin?

Let's do that.

So, if we look at the board now, you'll understand a little bit more about how this works.

The name of this tense that we're learning is future continuous, and that tells you so much.

What does it tell you?

First, that it's about the future.

And second, that it's about something that happens in the future, something that happens

after now, that continues for some time.

It's something that's happening, it's not just something that happens, but it's happening.

It continues.

It continues for some time.

It's in progress, alright?

So, the name itself gives you a good idea of what this tense is likely to be.

Now, let's look an example so you'll understand very clearly.

So, I've drawn a timeline here.

This is now.

Everything before now is the past, we're not learning that right now.

Everything after that is the future, and that's what we're looking at.

So, let's suppose in the future, tomorrow, I will start work at 9:00, and I will finish

work at 5:00.

When I said, "I will start" and I said, "I will finish", that is the future simple tense,

because it just happens, I start at 9:00, I finish at 5:00, right?

I cannot keep on starting.

So, that is the future simple tense.

But if I want to say that tomorrow, I will be working from 9:00 to 5:00, now I'm talking

about how long I'm working, right?

I want to show you that it continues.

From 9:00 to 5:00.

So that will be the future continuous tense or future progressive.

So, here we would say, "I will be working", right, let me underline it for you.

I will be working from 9:00 to 5:00 tomorrow, alright?

This is just, I will start, I will finish, alright?

But that one continues.

So, let's see now, look very quickly, look at how it's constructed.

Again, very easy.

You take any subject, I, You, He, She, We, They, doesn't matter, and you say "will be",

you have to use this, but you can use this for everyone, then you take the verb like

"work" and you add "-ing".

We'll be looking at lots of examples you understand exactly how that works but basically, that's it.

It's about the future, it continues, tells you about an action that continues, and it's

just with the subject, I will be working.

Now, let's look at when we can use the future continuous tense.

So, we can use it in different situations.

The first one is when something continues in the future for a period of time.

That was the example we looked at just now, but let's look at another example.

So: Our team will be attending a conference from March 5-8, alright?

Our team will be attending, right, this is the part that's the future continuous, from

March 5-8, is a period of time, alright?

And it will continue because they will be there during that entire period.

Next, we can also use the future continuous tense when something continues during a particular

moment, okay?

So, for example, 2:30 is a moment, right?

But, let's suppose that you start doing something at 2:00 and you finish doing something at

4:00, then 2:30 is one of those moments during which you will be doing something.

For example, someone's asked me, or someone asks you, "Can I call you at 2:30?" and you

say "No, sorry, you can't because at 2:30, I will be taking my English exam."

Alright, so what does that mean?

So, let's say the person started taking the exam at 2:00, it's finishing at 4:00, so 2:00,

2:30, 3:00, 3:30, 4:00, during that entire period, that person will be taking their English exam.

Again: will be taking, alright?

So, it can also be when something continues during a particular moment but it's not starting

and finishing in that moment, it's continuing through that moment.

Okay?

Next, we can also use it when we're describing different activities or actions that are continuing

together at the same time.

For example: On Tuesday, Jack will be giving a presentation and Steve will be meeting a

client.

So here, we have two parts that use the future continuous.

We said, "Jack will be giving a presentation" and "Steve will be - will be meeting a client",

alright?

So, it doesn't matter.

You could say three things, four things, five things, it doesn't matter.

There could be many things that are happening at the same time and they're continuing at

the same time, alright?

Next, we also use the present - sorry, the future continuous tense to talk about or to

ask polite questions.

Very often, people who are in the hospitality industry or in customer service use this style.

For example, in a hotel, somebody might ask: Will you be checking in early?

Right?

So, what they want to know, they could say, "Will you check in early?" but somehow, it's

much more polite to use the future continuous tense and to ask, "Will you be checking in

early?", alright?

Will you be staying for dinner?

Will you be attending the wedding?

Alright, it's just a polite way of asking.

So here also, you see the will and the you is there, because it's a question, we'll look

at that later.

Will you be checking in, okay?

Alright.

And the last part is that very often, you will be using this tense because it's talking

about the future, you very often will see it being used with a time marker.

What do I mean by a time marker?

A time marker is just a word or a phrase that tells you when something will happen in the

future, in this case, in the future, because we're talking about the future.

So, those words could be tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, okay?

At 9:00, on Friday, in the summer, in winter, okay?

So, very often, you will see the future continuous tense or the future progressive tense, same

thing, being used with a time marker.

So, these are the main ways and times that we use the future continuous tense.

Now, let's look at when not to use the future continuous tense, because there are certain

situations in which we cannot use this tense.

So, in English, there are two kinds of verbs: dynamic verbs and stative verbs.

A dynamic verb is an action verb.

For example: eat, run, drink, okay?

And a stative verb describes a condition or a state or a situation, like love, know, understand,

and so on.

There is a very long list, actually, quite a long list of verbs which are considered,

in English, stative verbs, which you need to read through and become familiar with.

You can check in any good grammar book and you will find this list of stative verbs.

So, in the future continuous tense and actually in any continuous tense, we cannot use stative

verbs.

In that case, you will not use future continuous, you will have to use future simple.

So, let's look at a few examples.

So, stative verbs can be talking about emotional states, mental states, something that you

own or possess, or all kinds of other things.

Emotional, let's look at an example of that.

It would be wrong to say, "You will be loving this car."

In English, we cannot say that.

That is not correct, because "love" is a stative verb, so you should be saying instead, "You

will love this car", which is not future continuous, it is future simple, alright?

So, you cannot use the future continuous with that word.

Next, for certain kinds of mental states.

For example: He will be understanding the problem soon."

No, that's wrong, you cannot say that.

You would need to use future simple there and just say, "He will understand the problem

soon."

Okay?

Next, when you're talking about something that you possess, something that you have,

something that you own, again, we cannot use the continuous form.

So, you cannot say: She will be having a new computer next month.

No, that's wrong.

You need to say instead, "She will have a new computer next month."

Alright?

Good.

And then, there are all kinds of other words.

I'll give you an example: This phone will be costing $50 dollars more next week.

That is incorrect, because "cost" is also a stative verb.

So instead of that, you would need to say, "This phone will cost $50 more next week.",

alright?

So pay attention that, it's really important not to use stative verbs with any of the continuous

tenses, including the future continuous tense.

Now, let's look at how we form the future continuous tense.

So, I've divided the board into three parts for a positive or affirmative sentence, a

negative sentence, and for a question, okay?

So, let's look at how we form each part.

If it's a positive sentence, you just take any subject and you add to it "will be working".

For example, I will be working.

You will be working.

We will be working.

They will be working.

You can repeat these after me, it's good practice, you'll get used to it.

He will be working.

She will be working.

It will be working.

Okay?

"It" is for things, like let's say, a computer, okay?

Next, if it's negative, we're basically just adding the word "not" if you're trying to

be a little bit formal.

So, if you're being formal, then we would say "I will not be working", but most of the

time, in regular conversation, we don't say "I will not be working", we use the contraction

or short form and we say "I won't be working on Sunday."

So, "won't" is what we use instead of "will not".

Say it after me so you get the pronunciation of "won't" properly, alright?

I won't be working.

You won't.

He won't.

She won't.

Okay?

So, make sure that you're saying "won't" properly, and the full form is "They won't be working."

He won't be working.

She won't be working.

It won't be working.

Alright?

Good.

That's the negative.

And now for the question, what happens with the question?

As in many of the tenses, we have to change the order of the words.

So, instead of saying "I will be working", we say "Will I be working?"

Say it after me: Will you be working?

Will we be working?

Let's say on Sunday, or whatever.

Will they be working?

Will he be working?

Will she be working?

Will it be working?

Alright?

That's it.

So basically, this "will be", "won't be", "will you be", this is the core of it, alright?

And once you know that, you know the whole tense.

Then basically, you're taking any verb like "work" and adding "-ing".

So, we could say "I'll be working, I'll be watching this movie tonight, I'll be sleeping,

I'll be studying, I'll be learning English", okay?

Whatever, just take the base form of the verb and add "-ing" and you're fine.

Alright.

Now, if you want to add any question words, what are the question words?

Who, what, when, why, how, and so on, then you just put that question word right before

this part.

For example: When will you be working?

Where will they be working?

How long will he be working?

Alright?

So, you can take any of those question words or phrases and add them just before this but

keep the rest of the structure exactly the same as the regular question.

And, that's how you form the future continuous tense.

Now, let's look at how we form and pronounce contractions in the future continuous tense.

So, for example, "I will be" becomes "I'll be".

Say it after me, okay?

I'll be.

You'll be.

We'll be.

They'll be.

He'll be.

She'll be.

It'll be.

Now, this last one, it'll be, isn't used very much, so you don't have to use that.

We usually say "It will be" because it's a little hard to say it and it's very unusual,

alright?

Now, let's make some sentences, okay, or parts of sentences with this.

I'll be living in New York.

You'll be meeting the boss.

We'll be shopping.

They'll be playing.

He'll be sleeping.

She'll be doing her homework.

It'll be working by then.

Those are the positive ones.

If it's negative, "I will not be" becomes what?

You know: I won't be.

Say it after me: I won't be.

And of course, you can do that for all of them.

I won't be, you won't be, he won't be, and so on.

And then, you add a verb + the ing.

For example, "I won't be working", alright?

And you won't be making any mistakes in the pronunciation of these contractions.

Now, let's look at some of the spelling changes we need to make when we're using the future

continuous tense.

So, for most verbs, you don't need to make too many changes.

All you have to do is just add "-ing".

For example: help becomes helping.

Do - doing.

Right?

All we did was add "ing".

Now, for verbs that end with an e, what you have to do is to drop the e and add "ing".

For example, the verb "write", to write, becomes "writing".

To bake becomes baking.

Alright?

So, if there is an e, we would drop it like, dance - dancing.

Like that.

Okay?

Next, for verbs that end with ie, okay, then what we do, you have to make a few more changes,

you change the ie to a y.

For example, the verb "lie" becomes "lying".

Tie - tying.

Alright?

And then, last, for verbs that end with a c-v-c, what is c-v-c?

C stands for constant and V stands for vowel.

A vowel in English is A, E, I, O, U, and every other letter in English is a consonant.

So, if you look at the verb, let's look at this one and you'll understand, and you look

at it from the end.

If the last letter is a consonant, and then you have a vowel, and then you have a consonant,

then you double the last letter and then add "-ing".

So, the verb "begin" becomes "beginning".

The verb "get", again, c-v-c, right?

Get becomes getting, or get-ting.

And sit - sitting.

Okay?

So, these are the main kinds of spelling changes you need to make when you're writing with

the future continuous tense.

Now, let's look at how to give short answers using the future continuous tense.

What do I mean by short answers?

When someone asks a question, usually when we answer, we don't have to repeat everything

that they've said, so we say something like this.

If the question is "Will Jack be working with you tomorrow?", let's say.

So, you could say, "Yes, he will.", or "No, he won't."

So, if it's positive, you just take this from here and bring it here, okay?

Yes, he will.

Here, we cannot use a contraction.

You cannot shorten it.

Don't say "Yes, he'll."

No, okay?

Yes, he will.

Or, "No, he won't."

Let's look at another example: Will they be announcing the winners today?

So, what do we do?

Yes, they will, or No, they won't.

Say it after me: Yes, they will.

No, they won't.

Good.

Again, no contraction possible.

And let's take one more: Will you be attending the lecture?

So, we could say what?

"Yes, I will" or "No, I won't".

That's it.

So, once you know that someone asks you a question like that which starts with the "will"

in the future continuous, you can answer it with "Yes, I will", "No, I won't."

Alright?

So, if I ask you, "Will you be eating dinner later?"

You could say whichever one applies to you.

"Yes, I will" or "No, I won't".

Now, let's do some practice exercises with the future continuous tense.

So, we have some positive sentences to make, some negative, and some questions, okay?

So, let's start with the first one.

So here, first, it has something written in the future simple, and we will be changing

it to the future continuous.

So, "I will learn".

How do we change that into the future continuous?

It should be "I will be learning."

Okay?

I will be learning.

"They will sell" becomes what in future continuous?

"They will be selling."

"I will be learning."

"They will be selling."

Okay?

Good.

Now, let's take some sentences which already are in the future continuous tense and make

them negative.

The first sentence: We will be taking the train.

Let's make this one negative in a formal way.

So, what word can you add and where do you add it to make this negative?

We would say "We will not be taking the train."

We will not be taking the train, okay?

It comes after "will", will, will not.

Now, let's make this one negative, but in an informal way.

It says right now: He will be staying at a hotel.

How do we make that negative?

Over here, this part, so it becomes "He won't", okay, instead of will, "He won't be staying

at a hotel."

Alright?

Good.

Now, let's make some questions.

Number five: Robert will be calling at 4:00.

So, you need to make a question that starts with "What time".

What will it be?

What time will Robert be calling?

Okay?

Because if we didn't have this question word or question phrase, the question would just

be "Will Robert be calling?", but if we add the question phrase, we still keep that same

structure, we're just adding the question word or question phrase.

What time will Robert be calling, okay?

Good.

Number six: Donna will be teaching from 7-8 pm.

So now, you want to ask a question that starts with "when".

So, how do we form it?

"When will Donna be teaching?"

Right?

Because again, if we didn't have the question word, this would become "Will Donna be teaching?",

but with the question word, "When will Donna be teaching?"

What will Donna be teaching?

How long will Donna be teaching, and so on.

Okay?

So, this is a little bit of review of what we've been studying so far in the future continuous

tense.

Now, let's look at some common mistakes that are made when using the future continuous

tense and see how we can avoid them and correct them.

So, sometimes a mistake is made with the tense itself.

The wrong tense is being used.

So, let's suppose that somebody asks you, "Could you call me at 8:00 today?" and you

say, "No, I can't call at 8:00, as I will travel then."

So, that's incorrect because it should not be "I will travel", which is future simple,

because travel is continuous, so here, you could actually use the future continuous tense,

right?

So, you should say "I will be travelling then", okay?

I can't call at 8:00, as I will be travelling then.

Travelling, by the way, is one of those words that could be used and written with a double

L here or without a double L. Both are correct.

Alright.

Spelling.

Sometimes, the mistake is a spelling error.

For example, see if you can find the mistake here and see if you can correct it.

"She'll be takeing a vacation".

Now, when I say it, it sounds just fine, but look at the spelling here.

How can we fix that?

Remember what we do if the verb ends with an e, we need to cancel the e before we add

"-ing", so it should look like this.

Taking.

Okay?

Good.

Or, let's look at another spelling mistake: We'll be swiming in the sea.

So, here is the mistake.

This was example of one of those consonant, vowel, consonant, right?

Swim is like that, so we need to do what?

Double the last letter.

We'll be swimming in the sea, alright?

Good.

Next, sometimes a mistake is made with the short answer.

So, somebody said, "Will you be going on holiday?" and the person answered "Yes, I'll."

Well, we can't do that because we learned that when we give the positive short answer,

we can't contract it, right?

We cannot contract it, so you need to say "Yes, I will."

Alright?

We can only contract it in the negative form.

We could say, "No, I won't."

But "Yes, I will."

Very good.

Now, sometimes mistakes are - actually very often, mistakes are made when framing questions

because we have to change the order of questions, the order of the words in the question.

Sometimes, that can be a little bit confusing, so always pay more attention to a question,

alright, and make sure that you've got that order right.

So, this person said, "When they will be fixing the car?"

That's incorrect.

How can we fix it?

It should be "When will they be fixing the car?".

Why?

Because right now, this is just a sentence.

They will be fixing the car.

But in - when we make it a question, we need to change the order, right?

Will they be fixing the car?

When will they be fixing the car?

Right?

So, remember that.

It's really, really important with the questions, okay?

Be careful that that mistake doesn't happen to you.

And the last one is, of course, with those stative verbs, remember, that there's all

those verbs that you cannot use in a continuous form at all.

So, this person said, or sorry, this one says: Soon, you'll be knowing the future continuous

tense.

Well, that's wonderful, but there's a mistake in it, and the mistake is the stative verb,

right?

We cannot say "You will be knowing", so there, we would just have to make it future simple:

Soon, you will know the future continuous tense.

And you will not make these kind of mistakes, you will speak clearly and confidently.

So, to review, you have learned the future continuous tense when you know when to use

it, which we learned, and also how to use it, which we did practice a lot of together.

So, in other words, by now, you should feel comfortable doing this, making a positive

sentence, a negative sentence, and a question using the future continuous tense.

For example, you should be able to say easily "She will be visiting Italy next year."

Or, "She won't be visiting Italy next year."

Or, "Will she visiting Italy next year?"

Okay?

And when you can do that easily and comfortably without worrying, without stressing out, without

making mistakes, then you have mastered this tense and of course, also, you should be able

to add those question words such as "When will she be visiting Italy?"

"How often will she be visiting Italy?", right?

You should be able to do that as well.

So, where do you go from here?

It's like this.

By doing the future continuous tense, if you've been doing the series with us, this is the

last of the basic tenses, okay?

You will probably have finished about six tenses, and this is the sixth one, the future

continuous tense.

If you feel that you're ready, then please move on to the next one, because the next

tense is the present perfect tense, and with those perfect tenses, you move to the advanced

level and you start doing those advanced tenses, which are excellent to use.

However, if you're not ready for that, that's perfectly fine.

If you want to feel more confident and just go over it a little bit more, go back over

these tenses.

You can start at the beginning, go through them, go through them one by one, fill in

any doubts and questions that you have in your mind, do a little more practice, watch

the lessons, make notes, write the answers, and also sometimes just leave it on.

Listen to it, right?

Let it go through your head, let me - you can hear me saying, go back to the base form

of the verb, this is the short answer, and eventually, that voice, my voice, will become

your voice in your mind, and the answers will come to you as you're speaking, as you're

writing, and so on, okay?

But, of course, if you're ready and you'd like to move forward, then please watch the

next tense in this series, which is the present perfect tense, alright?

And, last of all, if you'd like a little more practice in this particular tense, the future

continuous tense, please go to www.engvid.com, where you can do a quiz on this.

And congratulations once again on learning all of these wonderful tenses which will allow

you to speak in so much more of a confident, fluent manner.