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Future Perfect Continuous Tense

This tense is used to express future actions having a continued nature. Such actions are assumed to occur in future and to continue for some (more or less specific) time in future. Therefore, a time-reference is given in the sentence to show when will the action start to continue in future or for how long the action will continue in future. This time-reference distinguishes future perfect continuous tense from ordinary future continuous tense where the time of continuity of action is generally not specified. 

The specific words ‘since’ and ‘for' are used in the sentence to show the time of action.
  • If the exact starting time of the action (e.g., Monday, 3 P.M) is known, the word ‘since’ is used before the time in the sentence.
  • If the exact starting time of an action is not known but only the duration of time for which the action will be continued (e.g., three hours, five months, four years) is known, the word ‘for’ is used.

Structure of Sentence:

Main verb: 1st form of verb + ing. e.g., going, living, working.
Auxiliary verb:  Will have been

   POSITIVE SENTENCES

  Subject + helping verb + main verb + since/for + time.
  Subject + will have been + (1st form of verb + ing) + since/for time.

Examples:

He will have been living in Paris since 20th June.
The doctor will have been treating patients for three years.
He will have been working in this factory since January.
She will have been teaching students for seven months.
They will have been going to the library since Monday.
We will have been using our computer for four days.
He will have been waiting for you since morning.
The kids will have been sleeping since 10 PM.
He will have been studying this book for three hours.
They will have been running a business for ten years.
She will have been taking care of the children since Friday.
They will have been discussing the issue for five days.
He will have been writing essays since 8 AM.
She will have been singing songs for three hours.

   NEGATIVE SENTENCES:

In negative sentence, the word ‘not’ is added inside the helping verb making it ‘will not have been’.

  Subject + will not have been + (1st form of verb + ing) + since/for time.

Examples:

She will not have been working in the factory since 30th November.
He will not have been earning money for six months.
The company will not have been advertising jobs for two years.
She will not have been going to school since Friday.
They will not have been playing football for three days.
He will not have been watching television since morning.
I shall not have been using my mobile phone since 5 PM.
We will not have been eating our meal for seven hours.
He will not have been living in London since June.
She will not have been washing her clothes for six days.
They will not have been wasting their time since Monday.
He will not have been listening to the music for five hours.

Note: The short form of 'will not' is 'won't'. Therefore, the negative sentences can also be written with 'won't have been' instead of 'will not have been'. See the following example:

He will not have been using his computer for six hours.
He won't have been using his computer for six hours.

   INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES:

The question sentence starts with ‘will’ and the words ‘have been’ come after the subject inside the sentence.

  Will + subject + have been + (1st form of verb + ing) + since/for time.

Examples:

Will he have been using a new computer since Monday?
Will she have been taking her medicine for five days?
Will he have been studying in a new college since December?
Will they have been eating vegetables for three months?
Will you have been waiting for me since morning?
Will she have been teaching the students since 9 AM?
Will the kids have been playing with toys for two hours?

Will he have been driving a car for five hours?
Will she have been decorating her house for four days?
Will they have been repairing machines for six years?
Will we have been constructing our house since August?
Will she have been telling stories to her kids since 10 PM?
Will he have been writing articles for a newspaper since Tuesday?