English tenses › Future Perfect Continuous
Future Perfect Continuous
Future Perfect Continuous is for an activity that will still be going on at a future moment, looking at how long it will have lasted.
Form
When to use it
Duration up to a future moment
With for and by.
By December I’ll have been writing it for a whole year.
Cause of a future situation
Why someone will feel a certain way.
She’ll be tired, she’ll have been driving all day.
Time words
for, by, by the time, by then, how long
Examples
- In May I’ll have been working here for five years.
- By 10 pm we’ll have been travelling for 12 hours.
- How long will you have been studying English by then?
- He’ll have been waiting for an hour when you arrive.
- They’ll have been living together for a decade.
- She won’t have been sleeping long.
Common mistake
Next month I will work here for two years.
Next month I’ll have been working here for two years.
To say how long something will have lasted at a future moment, use will have been + V-ing.
Future Perfect Continuous or Future Perfect?
Future Perfect Continuous is about how long; Future Perfect is about what is done: By June I’ll have been running for a year. I’ll have run 1000 km. More about Future Perfect.
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