Grammar › Future Perfect Continuous
Future Perfect Continuous: yes/no questions
450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten
Move will in front of the subject. Have been and the -ing form stay together.
Practice this form
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Getting your first question ready.
The pattern
Only will moves. Everything else keeps its order:
They will have been waiting. → Will they have been waiting?
Short answers repeat will
Will he have been driving all night? — Yes, he will. / No, he won’t.
Asking whether the wait will be long
Nearly every question in this tense is a version of that:
- Will the guests have been waiting long by the time we arrive?
- Will you have been traveling all day?
In practice
This is the least used tense in English, and in speech people usually replace it with something simpler:
Will they have been waiting long? often becomes Have they been waiting long? once the moment arrives, or Will they be waiting long? before it.
It is still worth knowing, because written tests ask for it and because it is the only way to state a future duration exactly.
All forms
| Subject | Question | Short answer, yes | Short answer, no |
|---|---|---|---|
| every subject | Will she have been working? | Yes, she will. | No, she won't. |
Examples
Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.
- How long will he have been walking by the end of the day?
- Will she have been working for too many hours straight?
- Will she have been waiting for the bus at 9am?
- Will she have been studying for too many hours straight?
- Will she have been playing the instrument for six years?
- Will they have been training for the marathon by next month?
- Will you have been practicing since the start of the month?
- Will they have been running in the marathon for five hours by then?
- Will he have been cooking before we finish our dinner?
- Will they have been dancing at the party since the morning?
- Will he have been writing on his novel for eight hours by the end of the day?
- Will my sister have been painting for most of the evening?
Mistakes to avoid
Wrong: Do they will have been waiting? correct: Will they have been waiting?
Will asks its own question.
Wrong: Will they have been wait long? correct: Will they have been waiting long?
The main verb needs -ing.