Future Progressive
Use the future progressive when the useful viewpoint is an ongoing future situation rather than a simple event or a completed-before-future-time result. Context usually supplies the future reference point, and the form can also make questions about plans sound less abrupt.
The future progressive (future continuous) uses “will be” plus an -ing form to present an activity as in progress around a future time: “At noon, I will be meeting the team.” It is one of several English constructions for future time, not a separate inflected future tense.
Key details
Further guidance
Contrast
Use simple future for a future event viewed as a whole and future perfect when completion before a future reference point is the key meaning.
Form
Build the construction with “will be” (or contextually “shall be”) plus the present participle: “will be working,” “will be travelling.”
Use
Choose it when you want the reader to picture an action already in progress at a stated or implied future time.
Worked Example
“At 8 p.m., Maya will be presenting” focuses on the activity in progress at 8; “Maya will present at 8” presents the event more simply.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Future continuous (I will be working) (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Defines future-continuous form with will/shall + be + -ing and explains uses for actions or events in progress around a future time.
- Future (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Explains that English expresses future time through multiple constructions rather than one single future tense, providing the terminology boundary for “future progressive”.