Explaining future - continuous forms: E5-03G

The table features the three continuous constructions used in the future:

Process versus result

As with all continuous tenses, this form is used to stress a process, rather than a completed result. The emphasis is on the action over time, not on what was completed or achieved. Compare:

By the end of our holiday, we’ll have travelled several thousand miles. (quantity)

By the end of our holiday, we’ll have been travelling non-stop for almost a month. (time)

And:

If we can afford to, we’ll eat in restaurants when we break from driving.

I expect we’ll be eating in restaurants most of the time.

Or:

We’re going to take a lot of photos during our travels.

We’re going to be taking photos in every important location we visit.

There are times when there seems to be little or no difference between certain of these continuous constructions:

I’ll be living in Boston next year.

I’m going to be living in Boston next year.

Perhaps there is a small difference in emphasis: both are used to describe a plan or intention, in the second the volitional element may be a little stronger.

Simple versus continuous: other issues

1. Note that, as in other tenses, we use only the continuous tense to refer to action taking place at a specific moment:

A: Where will you be at five o’clock?

B: We’ll still be sunbathing on the beach, if the weather stays like this.

2. The future continuous can be used (as referred to above) for events which are expected or planned:

It’s decided: we’ll be flying to Scotland on the fourteenth and coming back on the twenty-third.

Caroline won’t be wearing white at the wedding.

I’ll be taking a couple of days off at the end of the month.

3. The future continuous is also used in questions, to give the other person the feeling that we are not trying to influence their decisions, because they have already made arrangements.

What will you be saying to the people from ‘Adworld’?

4. In fact, both usages above are close to the idea of arrangements, for which we use the present continuous. We use the present simple to talk about arrangements in the near future. We may use it for more distant ones, but we prefer the future continuous.:

‘What are you doing this evening?’  ‘I’m meeting Dani for a drink.’

‘What will you be doing after you leave the college?’  ‘I’ll be doing some work for a couple of friends who’ve recently started a language school.’

Conversely, we would not ask or answer questions about this evening using the future.

5. Finally, when we project forward with an expression using ‘by… ‘:

By this time tomorrow, we’re / we’ll be / we’re going to be relaxing by the pool.

The first one would definitely not be used here. Either of the others could be – the last probably insists a bit more, and the middle one, we’ll be relaxing is the most natural.

Summary

We must begin by recognising that very often the distinctions between these various future uses are slight, not great. Hence, they will not always be crystal clear, and the use of one for another will often not be a crime against good English!

The one general principle to keep in mind is that progressive tenses carry the sense of action over a period of time. To illustrate this in a final example, a question such as:

‘What will you do with all that free time, when Mark and the children are away?’

would be more naturally answered with -

‘Well, for one thing, I’ll be doing a lot of gardening.’

than with -

‘Well, I’ll do a lot of gardening.’

 since the emphasis is on filling a long period of time.