To understand the context of future continuous tense very well, I will give you an illustration of a conversation between friends.
Read the conversation below between five friends to understand what future continuous tense is all about.
Conversation Between Friends Illustrating Future Continuous Tense
JOHN: My father is taking me with him to Paris. He has business there and he’s taking me along to practice my French.
BARRY: Oh, aren’t you lucky! I wish I could go to Paris. When are you going?
JOHN: Next week. This time next Friday I shall be getting into the car that will take us to the airport
EDNA: And my father and I shall be walking to the farm.
BINI: And my mother will be waiting for me to go and help her in her shop!
IDRIS: Yes, John will be flying to Paris while I’m coaching my brother who’s weak in Maths.
EDNA: While we are resting at midday, John will be… what will you be doing, John?
JOHN: I expect I shall be having a meal on the plane.
BARRY: I’ve never been on a plane. What time do you get to France?
JOHN: If the plane is on time we shall be landing on the runway just about the time you will be eating your evening meal.
IDRIS: I hope you won’t be feeling too tired after sitting in one spot all day.
JOHN: I shall be feeling too excited to feel tired.
IDRIS, EDNA, BINI & BARRY: Well, we shall be thinking about you next Friday.
JOHN: Thanks. And I shall be thinking about you.
You had twelve examples of the Future Continuous Tense in the conversation above.
The verbs are formed by using the simple future (I shall, you will, etc.) with be and a present participle.
Forms Of The Future Continuous Tense ‘To Go’
Below are all the forms of the future continuous tense of to go.
AFFIRMATIVE INTERROGATIVE NEGATIVE
I shall be going shall I be going? I shall not (shan’t) be going
You will be going will you be going? You will not (won’t) be going
He will be going will he be going? He will not (won’t) be going
We shall be going shall we be going? We shall not (shan’t) be going
They will be going will they be going? They will not (won’t) be going.
With the above, you will learn that the Future Continuous Tense is used to express an action still continuing in the future!
The Future Perfect Tense
Just like the future continuous tense above, I’m going to use a conversational illustration to help you understand everything about the Future Perfect Tense.
The Conversation Between Friends Illustrating Future Perfect Tense
JESSICA: Amel, I want you to go to the supermarket before five o’clock. I have this ironing to do. I shall have done it in about an hour but I need some tomato puree for cooking.
AMEL: Can I go after five o’clock, mother? I want to listen to a program on the radio and it won’t have finished by five o’clock.
JESSICA: I’m sorry, but the supermarket will have closed by the time the radio program finishes.
JOANA: I will go, mother. I don’t want to listen to the radio and I shall have done my homework before five o’clock.
AMEL: Oh, thank you, Joana. I shan’t even have begun my homework at five o’clock, but I’ll begin it as soon as supper is over.
JESSICA: I hope you will. We shall have had supper and Joana will have washed the plates by half-past seven, so you can do an hour’s work before bedtime. Will you have done it all by half-past eight?
AMEL: Oh yes, I shall have finished everything by eight o’clock. Thank you again, Joana.
Now here we have another (and the last) of the tenses, the Future Perfect Tense. You can see nine examples of it in that conversation.
The Future Perfect Tense tells us something that will have happened at or before a certain time in the future.
Examples.,
– After five o’clock the owner will have shut up his supermarket
– Before bedtime, Amel will have completed her homework.
This tense is made by using the Simple Future Tense (I shall, you will, etc.), together with have and the Past participle.
Forms Of The Future Perfect Tense
Here are all the forms of the Future Perfect Tense of the verb to write.
AFFIRMATIVE INTERROGATIVE NEGATIVE
I shall have written shall I have written? I shall not (shan’t) have written
You will have written will you have written? You will not (won’t) have written
He will have written will he have written? He will not (won’t) have written
We shall have written shall we have written? We shall not (shan’t) have written
They will have written will they have written? They will not (won’t) have written.
The future perfect tense expresses an action that will have been completed at or before a time in the future.
In conclusion, I will give you a table of all the tenses that we have learned below;
We will use the verb walk to illustrate the tenses.
PRESENT TENSE
Simple Continuous Perfect
I walk I am walking I have walked
PAST TENSE
Simple Continuous Perfect
I walked I was walking I had walked
FUTURE TENSE
Simple Continuous Perfect
I shall (will) walk I shall (will) be walking I shall (will) have walked.
That’s all you need to know for now about the tenses in English grammar!
Bonus Topics (Mood & Voice In English Grammar)
Mood
The mood of a verb is the form of a verb that tells the mode (or manner) in which an action is shown.
There are three moods in English grammar, which includes;
–The indicative mood
–The imperative mood &
–The subjective mood.
Indicative Mood
The most frequently used mood, by far, is indicative mood.
The indicative mood is used to make statements and ask questions.
E.g.,
Indicative mood
Statements: I heard a noise
The train is coming into the station
The earth moves around the sun
Questions: Did you hear that noise?
Are you Mr. John?
Have you understood the lesson?
Imperative Mood
The imperative mood is used to give commands or make requests.
For example;
Imperative Mood
Commands: In the name of the law open the door!
Come here and speak to me
Don’t make a noise
Run!
With a request we usually add ‘please’ but this depends on the kind of request.
Requests: Please don’t forget to write to me
Don’t make a noise, please
Please give your sister my best wishes
Let me help you.
The verbs in italics in those sentences are in the Imperative Mood
Also, the Imperative (with one exception) has always the same form as the Simple Present Tense.
For example;
Present Tense Imperative
I take Take!
I speak Speak!
You go Go!
I do Do!
I don’t Don’t
The one exception is the verb to be.
Examples;
Present Tense Imperative
I am here Be there!
I am quiet Be quiet!
You are kind Be kind!
Above, you will notice that the imperative form of the verb usually hasn’t any subject.
For instance, compare these two sentences below;
Subject Verb Object
Indicative I Open the door
Imperative – Open the door.
However, we sometimes say that the subject of the Imperative verb is you ‘understood’. But it is sometimes necessary to specify who, among the listeners, is to obey the command.
E.g.,
– Chris, shut the door
– Jane, clear the chairs.
Generally, in Imperative sentences, there is no subject.
Voice
To understand this bonus topic better, you should take time to revise our previous article on (Subjects, Predicates, & Objects.)
But for a quick reminder, let me refresh your memory on what we learned on the topics I just mentioned above.
- The word or group of words that we speak about in a sentence is called the Subject.
- The predicate of a sentence is the word or group of words that tells us something about the Subject.
- Then the Object of a sentence is a noun (or something that stands for a noun i.e pronoun) that tells us the person (or thing) to whom the action of the verb happened.
- Verbs that take an object are called Transitive Verbs. Verbs that don’t take objects are called Intransitive Verbs.
Recall that we had the sentence like:
‘The dog killed the rat.’
And you were told that ‘the dog’ was the subject of the sentence and ‘the rat’ was the object. The dog did something; it was the doer of the action. The rat had something done to it; it was the sufferer or receiver of the action.
Very often (as in that sentence) the subject is the doer of the action. But not always. Sometimes we put the sentence another way around, and the subject is the sufferer of the action.
For example, one could say;
- The rat (subject) was killed by the dog.
‘The rat’, which is the subject, didn’t do anything; it was the receiver of the action.
Thus, when the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action, we say the verb is in the Active Voice.
But when the subject of the sentence is the receiver of the action, we say the verb is in the Passive Voice.
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Enjoy!