Grammar › Future Perfect Continuous
Future Perfect Continuous: wh-questions
450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten
Question word, then will, then the subject, then have been and the -ing form.
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Getting your first question ready.
The usual order
Six slots, and once you can count them the tense stops being frightening: question word — will — subject — have — been — the -ing form.
How long will she have been living abroad?
How long is the question it exists for
Almost every wh-question in this tense begins that way, because duration is the whole point:
By the time the project ends, how long will the team have been working on it?
The answer takes for: For about three years.
When who is the subject
Nothing swaps:
- Who will have been driving?
- What will have been causing the delay?
Compare the three how longs
The same question exists at three points in time, and only the tense changes:
- How long had you been waiting? — a past deadline.
- How long have you been waiting? — up to now.
- How long will you have been waiting? — a future deadline.
All forms
| Question word | Example | Asking about |
|---|---|---|
| How long | How long will you have been waiting? | the duration |
| What | What will they have been doing? | the activity |
| Where | Where will she have been staying? | the place |
| Why | Why will he have been working late? | the reason |
| Who | Who will have been driving? | the person — see below |
Examples
Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.
- Why will the team have been working so long before the exam starts?
- When will the students have been studying here for ten years?
- When will your brother have been training here for twenty minutes?
- Where will you have been practicing before the train leaves?
- Where will he have been waiting by the end of the month?
- Where will the team have been living by the time the guests arrive?
- Why will your sister have been rehearsing so long by next summer?
- Where will you have been sitting by the time we get back?
- What will your sister have been insisting on by the end of the month?
- What will they have been spending on before the train leaves?
- When will they have been teaching here for twenty minutes?
- Why will we have been negotiating so long by the time the last bus goes?
Mistakes to avoid
Wrong: How long you will have been waiting? correct: How long will you have been waiting?
Will goes before the subject.
Wrong: How long will you have been knowing her? correct: How long will you have known her?
Know is a state verb, so the plain Future Perfect is needed.