Future Perfect Continuous Tense Formula with Examples

An action continuing for a period of time or point of time in the future is regarded as Future Perfect Continuous Tense in English grammar. It indicates a time in future, time of an action or event in future. Here, we are going to discuss over the formula of future perfect continuous tense with its usages and examples in our daily life.

This is 12th class of tenses in English and we hope you have also enjoyed the lesson on past perfect continuous tense. If you look for a similar point on all perfect continuous tenses, you will see that indication of fixed time is one of the most remarkable patterns of this tense.

Formula of Future Perfect Continuous Tense

We have already learn that an action or event which will start and continue in future for a certain period of time. We also can see two actions or events in future which will start and continue one after another one. However, let’s start with the single action of future perfect continuous and its basic structure.

Structure: (Shall/Will)+ have been+ (verb+ing)+ for/since

So, here the auxiliary verb is ‘shall have been’ or ‘will have been’. The form of principal verb is always (verb+ ing) as you have seen it also both in case of Present Perfect Continuous Tense and Past Perfect Continuous Tense.

Now notice these sentences:
I shall have been waiting for you for two hours.
He will have been writing the story since Monday.

Usages of ‘For’ and “Since’

In previous lessons of Perfect Continuous, I had discussed over the usages of ‘since’ and ‘for’ in case of indicating time. In this lesson, I am going to show you a chart through which, you can be completely confident on the usages of ‘since’ and ‘for’.

If the time is period of time or indefinite time in future, you have to use ‘for’ in structure.

For example: He will have making the basket for 2 months.

Note: Don’t get confused with the word ‘2 months’. We know it’s 2 months but we are not sure about the exact month. We don’t know whether it’s January-February or March-April.

If the time is point of time or definite time in future, you have to use ‘since’ in structure.

For example: He will have making the basket since January.

Note: Here the particular name of the month ‘January’ is used to indicate the time. So, it’s definite time and we know it’s ‘January’ but no other month of the year.

Here is a chart for you based on the exact usages of ‘for’ and ‘since’. I hope this chart will give you a clear idea about using ‘for’ or ‘since’ in case of time indication in future perfect continuous tense.

Chart of ‘For’ and ‘Since’

‘For’ – expressing indefinite time	‘Since’ – expressing definite time
for an hour/2 hours	since 10.00 a.m./5 p.m./2’o clock
for a day/3 days	since Monday/Sunday/Friday
for a week/4 weeks	since last week
for a month/5 months	since January/February/March
for a year/2 years	since 1999/2010/2020
	since morning

Now, we will discuss about the negative and interrogative structures of Future Perfect Continuous Tense.

Negative Structure

(Shall/Will)+ not+ have been+ (verb+ing)+ for/since

For Example:
I shall not have been waiting for you for two hours.
He will not have been writing the story since Monday.

Interrogative Structure

Shall/Will +subject+have been+(verb+ing)+for/since+object+?

For Example:
Shall i have been waiting for you for two hours?
Will he has been writing the story since Monday?

Usages & Examples of Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Structure of 2 Actions or Events in Future

We told that we can also see two actions or event in future which are starting and continuing one after another. If two actions take place together in future, the 1st action which will start and continue for a time period will be in the structure of future perfect continuous and the later action or 2nd action will be in the structure of present indefinite tense.

So, in a word, an action in future will start and continue for a period of time and in that time, another one different action will take place. To connect these two actions or events in future, we can use these conjunctions: ‘before’, ‘when’, and ‘by the time’.

Structure: Future Perfect Continuous Tense + BEFORE/WHEN/BY THE TIME + Present Indefinite Tense

{(Shall/Will)+ have been+ (verb+ing)+ for/since +object} + BEFORE/WHEN/BY THE TIME + {Present form of verb+ object}

For example:
I shall have been writing the report for an hour before you come.

Note: So, i will start writing a report in future and it will continue for an hour and then, you will come.

In the same way,

They will have been playing cricket in the field before we come.

Mark will have been studying here for more than 2 years by the time he leaves for graduation.

I shall have been watching tv for an hour when you reach at home.

Using Time Indicator Word “By”

Like Future Perfect Tense, if you express the time with the word ‘by’, you can use the word ‘by’ as a phrase: ‘by the time’/’by the end of the week’/ by the beginning of the year’ and express the action in future perfect continuous tense.

For Example:
By the end of the week, he will have been working here for 5 hours.

So, this is all about future perfect continuous and we hope you have enjoyed this lesson. Now, you can also try these exercises on this tense to test your knowledge you have learnt here. This lesson is an important part of your basic grammar learning process in English.

Try to form new sentences in English using the formula of future perfect continuous tense which will make this lesson more memorable to you. Let us know your thoughts using our comment box below and please share this lesson.