Future Continuous Grammar Quiz
12 multiple-choice questions on the future continuous tense (will + be + verb-ing): actions in progress at a point in the future, polite enquiries and predictions. B2 level.
Future Continuous — FAQ
You form the future continuous with ‘will’ + ‘be’ + the -ing form of the verb: subject + will be + verb-ing. For example, ‘I will be working’, ‘they will be travelling’, ‘she will be studying’. The form does not change with the subject, so it is the same for I, you, he, she, it, we and they. In speech the contraction ’ll is common: ‘I’ll be working at eight o’clock.’ Stative verbs such as ‘know’ or ‘belong’ are not normally used in this tense.
The future continuous describes an action that will be in progress at a particular moment in the future. You use it to picture something happening ‘in the middle’ at a future time: ‘This time tomorrow I will be flying to Rome.’ It is also used for actions you expect to happen as part of the normal course of events, for polite enquiries about people’s plans, and for two parallel actions happening at the same time, such as ‘While you are cooking, I will be setting the table.’
The future simple (will do) presents a complete action or a decision: ‘I will phone you at six’ means the call begins around six. The future continuous (will be doing) presents an action already in progress at that point: ‘At six I will be having dinner’ means the dinner has already started and is ongoing. Use ‘will do’ for the whole event and ‘will be doing’ to emphasise that the action is happening across a future moment rather than starting then.
Yes. A very common use of the future continuous is to ask politely about someone’s plans without pressuring them. ‘Will you be using the car this evening?’ sounds softer and more neutral than ‘Are you going to use the car?’, because it asks about the natural course of events rather than directly about the person’s intentions. Service staff often use it too: ‘Will you be paying by card?’ This makes the question feel polite and undemanding.
For negatives, put ‘not’ after ‘will’: subject + will not (won’t) + be + verb-ing, as in ‘I won’t be working tomorrow.’ For questions, invert the subject and ‘will’: will + subject + be + verb-ing, as in ‘Will you be joining us?’ Short answers use ‘will’ or ‘won’t’: ‘Will they be staying long?’ — ‘Yes, they will.’ / ‘No, they won’t.’ The ‘be’ and the -ing form stay the same throughout.
The future continuous often appears with time expressions that pinpoint a moment: ‘this time tomorrow’, ‘at 8pm tonight’, ‘at midday’, ‘in an hour’, ‘when you arrive’ and ‘while you are sleeping’. For example, ‘At 8pm tonight I will be watching the match’ and ‘This time next week we will be lying on a beach.’ These expressions show the exact future point at which the action is already happening — precisely what the future continuous is designed to express.
The present continuous for the future (I am meeting Tom at five) describes a fixed personal arrangement that has already been planned. The future continuous (I will be meeting Tom at five) describes an action that will be in progress at that future moment, often as part of a routine or expected course of events rather than a special plan. So ‘I am seeing the doctor tomorrow’ is a booked appointment, while ‘I will be seeing the doctor at some point’ simply predicts it will be happening.
Stative verbs — verbs that describe states rather than actions — are not normally used in any continuous tense, including the future continuous. These include verbs of thinking (know, believe, understand), feeling (like, love, hate), possession (have, own, belong) and the senses (seem, appear). So you say ‘I will know the results tomorrow’, not ‘I will be knowing’, and ‘She will own the house next year’, not ‘will be owning’. With these verbs, use the future simple instead.
Common mistakes include forgetting ‘be’ (writing ‘I will working’ instead of ‘I will be working’), using a stative verb in the continuous (‘I will be knowing’), and confusing it with the future simple by choosing ‘will do’ when an action in progress is meant. Learners also sometimes add a second ‘will’ in the question (‘Will you will be coming?’). Remember the fixed pattern will + be + verb-ing, and use ‘will be doing’ only when the action stretches across a future point.
Everyday examples include: ‘Don’t call at seven — we will be having dinner’, ‘This time tomorrow I will be sitting on the train’, ‘Will you be coming to the party?’, ‘They won’t be working over the holidays’, and ‘While you are at the meeting, I will be looking after the children.’ These show the main uses: an action in progress at a future moment, polite enquiries about plans, negatives, and two parallel actions happening at the same time in the future.