
- •The Future Perfect Continuous Tense
- •Sequence of Tenses
- •The Subjunctive Mood
- •The gerund
- •Prepositions – Time
- •Prepositions – Place (Position and Direction)
- •Other important Prepositions
- •Infinitive
- •Present Participle
- •Past Participle
- •Articles
- •Indefinite articles - a and an
- •Interrogative Pronouns
- •Simple present
- •Verbs ending in -y : the third person changes the -y to -ies: fly flies, cry cries Exception: if there is a vowel before the -y: play plays, pray prays
- •Simple Past
- •I was in Japan last year
- •Simple future
- •Present continuous
- •3. Verbs that are not normally used in the continuous form
- •Past continuous
- •It is used:
- •Future continuous
- •Interrogative negative Won't we be staying?
It is used:
often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sunwas shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to go on an excursion instead."
with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."
Future continuous
The future continuous is made up of two elements: the simple future of the verb 'to be' + the present participle (base+ing)
Subject |
simple future, 'to be' |
base+ing |
You |
will be |
watching |
Affirmative I will be asking
noun + verb She won't be leaving
noun + adverb Will they be retiring?
Interrogative negative Won't we be staying?
Example: to stay, future continuous
Affirmative |
Negative |
Interrogative |
I will be staying |
I won't be staying |
Will I be staying? |
You will be staying |
You won't be staying |
Will you be staying? |
He, she, it will be staying |
He won't be staying |
Will she be staying? |
We will be staying |
We won't be staying |
Will we be staying? |
You will be staying |
You won't be staying |
Will you be staying? |
They will be staying |
They won't be staying |
Will they be staying? |
Future continuous, function
The future continuous refers to an unfinished action or event that will be in progress at a time later than now. It is used:
To project ourselves into the future and see something happening:
This time next week I will be sun-bathing in Bali.
To refer to actions/events that will happen in the normal course of events:
I'll be seeing Jim at the conference next week.
In the interrogative form, especially with 'you', to distinguish between a simple request for information and an invitation:
Will you be coming to the party tonight? (= request for information) Will you come to the party? (= invitation)
To predict or guess about someone's actions or feelings, now or in the future:
You'll be feeling tired after that long walk, I expect.
Events in progress in the future:
When you are in Australia will you be staying with friends?
Events/actions in normal course of events:
I'll be going into town this afternoon, is there anything you want from the shops?
Asking for information:
Will you be bringing your friend to the pub tonight?
Predicting or guessing:
You'll be feeling thirsty after working in the sun.