Future perfect continuous: form
We usewill/shall + have + been+ the -ingform of the verb.
We useshallonly forfuture time reference withIandwe. Shallis more formal and less common thanwill.
singular and plural | |||
+ | I, we she, he, it, you, they | (full form) willorshall will | have been working |
I, she, he, it, you, we, they | (short form) ’ll | ||
− | I, we she, he, it, you, they | (full form) will notorshall not will not | have been working |
I, we she, he, it, you, they | (short form) won’torshan’t won’t | ||
? +Will ?−Won’t | I, she, he, it,you, we, they | have been working? |
Note:Shall I, shall weandshan’t I, shan’t wein future perfect continuous questions are rare.
Future perfect continuous: use
Emphasising the length of an event at a time in the future
We use the future perfect continuous form when we are looking back to the past from a point in the future and we want to emphasise the length or duration of an activity or event:
In September the head teacherwill have been teachingat the school for 20 years.
In September, shewill have been livingin France for a year.
Iwill have been studyingEnglish for three years by the end of this course.
We’re late. I think they’ll have been waitingfor us. We’d better go.
See also:
Future:willandshall
Shall
Will