The Future Progressive or Continuous Tense is used to express continuing action, something that will be happening, going on, at some point in the future. Future Continuous Tense has two different forms: “will be doing ” and “be going to be doing.”
We use the future progressive tense for:
1) Activity that will occur in the future and continue for a certain period of time. We can specify the time when the activity is going to take place:
Examples:
- I will be attending the conference next month.
- He’ll be working late at the office tonight.
2) Specific Time as an Interruption in the Future
Examples:
- Tonight at 6 PM, I am going to be going to my friend house.
- At eight o’clocktonight, we will still be swimming in the club house.
3) To make a guess about the present
Example:
- My father will be working now. (= I think he is working now, but I’m not completely certain)
To note
Like all future tenses, the Future Continuous cannot be used in clauses beginning with time expressions such as: when, while, before, after, by the time, as soon as, if, unless, etc. Instead of Future Continuous, Present Continuous is used.
Examples:
- While I am going to be finishing my homework, she is going to make dinner. Not Correct
- While I am finishing my homework, she is going to make dinner. Correct
Remember not to use the future continuous tense with non-action verbs like seem and know; include be in this list for future continuous tense. These verbs should use the simple future.
She will be being here at 3:00.
She will be here at 3:00.