How to Use Future Perfect Continuous Tense in Your Writing

The Future Perfect Continuous Tense is a verb form that is to elaborate an action or event that will have been in progress up until some point later. It can be used to talk about things that will happen before a certain time, or after a certain time. 

Future Perfect Continuous Tense

The future perfect continuous is made up of two parts- the future perfect tense, and the continuous tense. The future perfect tense is made up of will have + past participle. The past participle is the verb form that ends in -ed or -en. For example, the past participle of ‘read’ is ‘read’, and the past participle of ‘walk’ is ‘walked’. To form the Future Perfect Continuous Tense, you will need to use the future perfect tense of ‘to be’, which is ‘will have been’.

Rules of Future Perfect Continuous

There are a few rules that are used in Future Perfect Continuous.

– The first rule is that the main verb must be in the future tense.

– The second rule is that the helping verb (will have been) must be in the past tense.

– The third rule is that the verb phrase must always include the words “for,” “since” or “during.”

– The fourth rule is that the subject of the sentence must be a singular noun or pronoun.

– The fifth and final rule is that the time phrase must be later.

Future Perfect Continuous examples

Now that we know the rules, let’s look at some Future Perfect Continuous examples:

– I will have been studying for six hours after the test is over.

– You will have been living in Japan for five years once you finish your contract.

– She will have been jogging for thirty minutes when she gets home from work.

– We will have been waiting for two hours after the bus arrives.

– They will have been playing soccer for an hour when it starts raining.

As you can see, the Future Perfect Continuous Tense is to talk about actions that will have been happening for a certain amount of time before something else happens.

When to use Future Perfect Continuous Tense

The Future Perfect Continuous is to elaborate an ongoing action that will be completed by a specific time later. It can be used to elaborate on both positive and negative situations.

The following are examples of how to use the Future Perfect Continuous Tense:

-I will have been studying for the test for six hours after it starts.

-She will not have been working on her project for long when she realises she made a mistake.

-By six PM tonight, we will have been driving for ten hours.

When not to use Future Perfect Continuous

Here are some examples of when not to use Future Perfect Continuous:

– I will have been studying for six hours after the test is over. (wrong)

– I will be studying for six hours after the test is over. (right)

– By next week, I will have been living in New York for five years. (wrong)

– By next week, I will have lived in New York for five years. (right)

Mistakes people make while using Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Mistakes people do while using Future Perfect Continuous are:

-Mixing up Future Perfect Continuous and Past Progressive tenses.

-Forgetting to use the auxiliary verb ‘will’ with the main verb.

-Not using the correct form of the main verb.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Future Perfect Continuous Tense is a useful verb tense for indicating an action that will be continuing in future for a due time and will be completed by a certain point later. It can also be used to elaborate on a situation that has been going on for some time and will continue into the future. By understanding when and how to use this verb tense, you can make your writing more accurate and clear.