The Future Continuous Tense
Introduction
8. 2. Future Continuous Tense
8. 2. 1. Form
This tense is made up of the future simple of “to be + the present participle”. Example: to work “Will be working”.
· Students will be working on it.
· Students will not be working on it.
· Will Students be working on it?
8. 2. 2. The Uses of the Future Continuous Tense
This tense have two uses: it can be used as an ordinary continuous tense and for a future without intention.
§ The future continuous used as an ordinary continuous tense: like other continuous tenses. It is normally used with a point in time, and expresses an action which starts before that time and probably continuous after it. Speakers must assume that everything will take place in the future. Imagine a class of students at this moment. In short, the future continuous tense expresses action at a particular moment in the future. The action will start before that moment but it will not have finished at that moment. For example, tomorrow I will start work at 2pm and stop work at 6pm:
Look at these examples:
· Now they are sitting in their classroom. They are listening to a tape. This time tomorrow they will be sitting in the cinema. They will be watching a film. On Saturday there is no class. So on Saturday they will not be sitting in the classroom. They will be doing other things.
· I will be playing tennis at 10am tomorrow.
· They won't be watching TV at 9pm tonight.
· What will you be doing at 10pm tonight?
· What will you be doing when I arrive?
· She will not be sleeping when you telephone her.
· We will be having dinner when the film starts.
· Take your umbrella. It will be raining when you return.
§ The future continuous used to express future without intention: the future progressive is useful if we want to show that we are not talking about making decisions, but about things that will happen “anyway”. See the examples below:
· I’ll be helping Mary tomorrow. This does not imply that the speaker has arranged to help Mary or that he wishes to help her. It merely states that this action will happen. The future continuous used in this way is somewhat similar to the present continuous, but differs form it in the following points. The present continuous tense implies a deliberate future action. The future continuous tense usually implies an action which will occur in the normal course of events “statement of fact”. It is therefore less definite and more casual than the present continuous:
· I am seeing Tom tomorrow. “This example implies that Tom or the speaker has deliberately arranged the meeting.”
· I’ll be seeing Tom tomorrow. “This example implies that Tom and the speaker will meet each other in the ordinary course of events (perhaps they work together)”.
§ The future continuous can be used with or without a definite time and for the near or distant future “unlike the present continuous which can only be used with a definite time and only for the near future”. We can say:
· I am meeting him tomorrow but
· I’ll be meeting him tomorrow /next year/some time. (Or without a time expression at all).
§ Use the Future Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the future will be interrupted by a shorter action in the future. Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time. This action can be represented diagrammatically as follows:
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See the examples below:
· I will be watching TV when he arrives tonight.
· I am going to be staying at the Sheraton Hotel, if anything happens and you need to contact me. Notice in the examples above that the interruptions (marked in italics) are in simple present rather than simple future. This is because the interruptions are in time clauses, and you cannot use future tenses in time clauses. Further, in addition to using short actions as interruptions, you can also use a specific time as an interruption. Examples:
· Tonight at 8 PM, I am going to be eating dinner.
· At midnight tonight, we will still be driving through the forest.
8. 3. Future Continuous and Will + Infinitive ……………………..….Differences
§ There is always the same difference between “will + infinitive” and the future continuous as between “will + infinitive” and the present continuous. “Will + infinitive” expresses future with intention. The future continuous expresses future without intention. In this sentence:
· I’ll write to Mr. Pitt and tell him about Toms’ new house. “The verb in bold type expresses intention. The speaker announces a deliberate future action in accordance with his own wishes. But in the following example:
· I’ll be writing to Mr. Pitt and I’ll tell him about Tom’s new house. “The verb in bold type expresses no intention. It is mere a statement of fact and implies that this letter to Mr. Pitt will be written either as a matter of routine or for reasons unconnected with Tom’s new house.
· Tom won’t cut the grass. “It means that Tom refuses to cut it.
· Tom won’t be cutting the grass. “It is merely a statement of fact, giving no information about Tom’s feelings. Perhaps Tom is away, or ill, or will be doing some other job.”
8. 4. “Be going to” and “Future Simple”……………….…….……….: Differences
8. 4. 1. Similarities
Ø “Simple future” and “be going to” are therefore rather similar and often either form can be used interchangeably:
· It will take a long time to photocopy all the documents.
· It is going to take a long time to photocopy all the documents.
8. 4. 2. Differences
1. “Be going to” form implies that there are signs that something will happen “there is an outside evidence for what we say”. We are showing something to the listener and we do not ask them to believe about something. So it expresses a particular conclusion regarding the immediate future (using available evidence).
· See those clouds! It is going to rain. (There are clouds in the sky.)
· Look out! We are going to crash. (There is outside evidence.)
· Ann is going to have a baby. (Outside evidence –she is pregnant now.)
· The lift is going to break down. (It implies that it is making strange noise or behaving in strange way; we had better get out on the next floor.)
· He is going to get better. (It implies that there are signs of recovery or his temperature has gone down.)
2. “Simple future” is common way of expressing what the speaker thinks/believes that something will happen “there is no such outside obvious evidence”. In short, when we are talking more about what is inside out heads: what we know, or believe, or have calculated. (When we use will, we are not showing the listener something; but we are asking him or her to believe something.)
· Do not lend him your car, he is a terrible driver. He will crash it. (It implies that the speaker knows the driver well.)
· The baby will certainly have blue eyes, because both parents have. (This is about the speaker’s knowledge about genetics.)
· The lift will break down. (It implies that this will happen sometime in the future. Perhaps we always overload our lift or because it is an “X” company lifts and they don’t last long.)
· He will get better. (It implies confidence in his doctor or in the course of treatment, but promises eventual rather than immediate recovery.)
3. The future simple can be used with or without time expression. The “be going to” form is sometimes possible here also, but it makes the action more probable and (where there is no time expression) more immediate.
· He will build a house. (Merely means that this is just my opinion and gives no idea when the building will start).
· He is going to build a house. (It implies that he has already made this decision and that he will probably start quite soon.)
4. “Be going to”, as already stated, usually refers to the fairly immediate future. While the “Simple future” can refer either to the immediate or to the more remote future. So it does not refer to any particular time.
Summary
The future progressive tense is used for an activity that is expected to be in progress at a time in the future when something else will happen. It is formed by using “will” plus “be” or a form the verb “be” with the present participle of the base verb (I, you s/he/it, we, they will be studying). The common way of using the simple present tense is when:
§ Action in progress at a particular time in the future (Do not call between 8 am and 10 am. I will be studying then. Will it still be raining like this when I get back?).
§ Series of future actions seen as temporary arrangements (She will be giving lectures across the country).
§ Introducing polite requests (Will you be going out tonight? I thought you could give me a lift.).
§ To emphasize certainty that something will happen because arrangements have been made. (I will be seeing you when I am finished with them. Next month he will be retiring.)
Exercise 1
Put in the answers. People are saying what they will be doing as part of their routine. One example is given.
► David: When are you going to the club, do you know? (Nick goes to the club every Friday.) Nick: I'll be going there next Friday.
1. Vicky: Are you likely to see John in the near future? (Emma sees John every day.)Emma: ........................................................................................ tomorrow.
2. Claire: Are you going to France again soon? (Henry goes to France every summer.) Henry: .............................................................................................
3. Jessica: When are you going to play badminton again? (Matthew plays badminton every weekend.) Matthew:...................................................................
Andrew: When are you next having lunch in the canteen? (Daniel has lunch in the canteen every day.) Daniel: ............................................................................