Future Perfect Continuous: Looking Back from a Future Point
By the end: I can describe how long an activity will have been in progress at a future point.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Choose a short recording.
Build the form
Use will have been and an -ing verb. Look back from a stated future reference point over the activity’s duration.
By noon, I’ll have been working for three hours.
Next June, she’ll have been teaching here for ten years.
Count up to the future viewpoint
From the future viewpoint at noon, look back over the accumulated activity.
Ask about duration
Use how long with will, subject, have been and -ing. For gives a duration; since gives the starting point.
How long will you have been travelling by then?
By six, we’ll have been driving since midday.
Duration or completed amount?
The continuous highlights the activity’s duration. The simple perfect can highlight a completed result or quantity. Choose the meaning you need.
By Friday, I’ll have written three reports.
By Friday, I’ll have been writing reports for a week.
Guided practice
Say or write your answer first. Compare form and meaning with the model.
1. Complete: By ten, I will have ___ studying for two hours.
Compare a model and explanation
been
The continuous needs have been plus -ing.
2. Complete: She will have been ___ here for a year. Use work.
Compare a model and explanation
working
Use -ing after been in this continuous.
3. Make a question: You will have been waiting for an hour.
Compare a model and explanation
How long will you have been waiting?
Ask about duration with the full chain.
4. Choose for/since: By May, we’ve projected a year here; we’ll have been working here ___ last May.
Compare a model and explanation
since
Last May is a starting point.
5. Choose duration or quantity: will have finished five pages.
Compare a model and explanation
Completed quantity.
The simple perfect foregrounds the finished pages.
6. Correct: I’ll have been know her for years. Keep know.
Compare a model and explanation
I’ll have known her for years.
Know normally takes a simple form in this meaning.
7. Does will have been writing for three hours guarantee the report is finished?
Compare a model and explanation
No.
Duration does not establish completion.
8. Work starts at two and continues until five. Describe from five.
Compare a model and explanation
By five, I’ll have been working for three hours.
Calculate from the supplied continuous interval.
A short conversation
Listen first, then open the transcript when useful.
Open the conversation transcript
A: Will the report be finished by noon?
B: I’m not sure. I’ll have been working on it for three hours by then.
A: So three hours of work doesn’t mean a finished report?
B: Exactly. I expect to finish it by two, but that’s a separate estimate.
Listening checks
Listen to each extract or open its transcript. These three questions have a separate score.
Mastery quiz
Choose the best answer for each situation. The score is out of eight.
Use it in your own words
Speaking 1
Describe two activities from a future reference point.
Reveal a possible response
By six, I’ll have been studying for two hours. By next June, I’ll have been teaching here for a year.
Success check: Make the viewpoint and duration explicit.
Speaking 2
Contrast planned output with time spent.
Reveal a possible response
By Friday, I’ll have completed two units. I’ll have been studying the topic for a week.
Success check: Separate quantity and duration.
Put it all together
Give a progress forecast without promising completion from time alone.
Reveal a possible response
By noon, we’ll have been testing for three hours. We expect to have checked ten examples, but the final review may take longer.
Success check: Preserve uncertainty and distinguish the two perfect forms.
Take it with you
I can describe how long an activity will have been in progress at a future point.