B2 Future Perfect and Future Continuous

B2 GRAMMAR · future perfect and continuous

The Five-Year Plan

PICTURE

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"Four cakes so far. By 2030, I'll have sold thousands."

Future perfect (will have + past participle) · future continuous (will be + -ing)

Listening

Speaking

A · LEAD-IN

Ten years from today

Imagine it is exactly ten years from today.

1. Where do you live? With whom?

2. Where do you work?

3. What are your hobbies?

4. What are your biggest achievements?

PICTURE

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B · LISTENING FOR GIST

Nadia has made a plan

Nadia has written a five-year plan. She tells her brother Omar about it.

LISTEN ONCE AND ANSWER

PICTURE

1. What does Nadia want to do?

2. Why does her brother think she is being unrealistic?

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B · LISTENING · TAPESCRIPT

The Five-Year Plan

NADIA OK, don't laugh. I've made a five-year plan.

OMAR A plan? You? You couldn't plan a lunch.

NADIA Shut up and listen. By the end of this year, I'll have paid off my credit card. Completely. By next summer, I'll have saved enough for a deposit on a flat.

OMAR A deposit. In this city. By next summer.

NADIA I'm serious. I'll be working two jobs from September — I've already said yes to the weekend shifts at the cafe. So, by this time next year, I'll be living in my own place.

OMAR Right. And where will you be sleeping, exactly, if you're working seven days a week?

NADIA Very funny. Then, year three: I'll be running my own business. The cake thing — I'll have built up enough clients by then to leave the office.

OMAR Nadia, you've sold four cakes. One of them was to Mum.

NADIA Four cakes so far. By 2030, I'll have sold thousands. And by the time I'm thirty-five, I'll have opened an actual shop. You'll be standing in the queue outside, asking for a discount.

OMAR Oh, I'm sure there'll be thousands of people queuing in the rain waiting hours for a pie.

NADIA What will you have done in five years, then? Go on.

OMAR In five years? Honestly? I'll still be doing exactly what I'm doing now. Same job, same flat. I won't have changed a thing. And you know what? I'll be fine.

NADIA That's the saddest thing I've ever heard.

OMAR No, the saddest thing is that in five years you'll have made all these plans, and I'll still be lending you money for the bus.

NADIA Actually, now that you mention it ...

OMAR See? Year one, and it's already going badly.

C · COMPREHENSION

Listen again and complete Nadia's timeline.

1. By the end of this year: she'll have ________________________ .

2. By next summer: she'll have ________________________ .

3. From September: she'll be ________________________ .

4. By this time next year: she'll be ________________________ .

5. By 2030: she'll have ________________________ .

6. By the time she's 35: she'll have ________________________ .

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Finished by then, or in progress then?

a) By the end of this year, I'll have paid off my credit card.

b) By the time I'm thirty-five, I'll have opened an actual shop.

c) I'll be working two jobs from September.

d) Where will you be sleeping if you're working seven days a week?

e) I'll be standing in the queue because you'll have given me a job.

1. In (a) and (b), will the action be finished before the time mentioned, or in progress at that time? What is the form?

2. What word comes before the time expression in (a) and (b)? Does by Saturday mean on Saturday at the earliest or at the latest?

3. In (c) and (d), at the time mentioned, will the action be finished, or in progress? What is the form?

4. Look at (e). Two future forms in one sentence: which happens first — Omar getting the job, or Omar standing in the queue?

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Plans, negatives and questions

a) Come at 7.30. We'll have dinner at 8.00.

b) Don't phone between 7.00 and 8.30 — we'll be having dinner.

c) I'll be working two jobs from September — I've already said yes.

d) In five years, I'll still be doing exactly what I'm doing now. I won't have changed a thing.

e) What will you have done in five years? Where will you be sleeping?

1. In (a) and (b), in which sentence does dinner start at 8.00? In which will it already be in progress?

2. In (c), is this a prediction, or something already planned and decided? Which present tense can also be used this way?

3. How do we make the negative with both forms? Look at (d).

4. How do we make questions with both forms? Look at (e).

D · THE RULES

Complete the rules

Complete with future perfect or future continuous.

• ________ (will have + past participle): something will be finished before a certain time in the future. Often with by + time (= at the latest) or in + period (in six months / in six months' time).

• ________ (will be + verb + -ing): an action will be in progress at a certain time in the future. Also used, like the present continuous, for things already planned or decided.

• Negatives: won't have + past participle / won't be + -ing. Questions: invert the subject and will.

CAREFUL

Two futures in one sentence tell you the order: You'll be standing in the queue (in progress later) because you'll have given me a job (finished first).

E · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Complete using the future perfect or the future continuous.

1. Omar's shift starts at 9.00 and finishes at 5.00. At 3.00 tomorrow, he ________ (work).

2. Nadia's contract ends on 31st August. By September, she ________ (leave) the office job.

3. The cafe opens at 7.00. Don't call her at 7.15 — she ________ (serve) breakfast.

4. The cake business is growing by ten clients a month. By March, she ________ (reach) a hundred.

5. "Will you be around at lunchtime?" "No, I ________ (drive) to Mum's."

6. Hurry up. By the time we get there, they ________ (eat) all the food.

7. He pays 300 pounds a month on his car. In two years' time, he ________ (pay) it off.

8. This time next week, I ________ (lie) on a beach, ignoring both of you.

E · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Complete the conversation with the future perfect or future continuous.

A: Do you think people 1 ________ (still / use) cash in 2040?

B: No chance. By then, most shops 2 ________ (stop) accepting it, and we 3 ________ (pay) for everything with our phones — or our faces.

A: What about driving?

B: We 4 ________ (not / drive) at all. Cars 5 ________ (drive) themselves by then, and the government 6 ________ (ban) human drivers on motorways.

A: And you? What 7 ________ (you / do)?

B: Same as now. I 8 ________ (sit) on this sofa, complaining. But I 9 ________ (pay) off the mortgage, so I'll be complaining in a house I own.

F · FREER PRACTICE

Class reunion, 2036

It is your class reunion in ten years. In groups, prepare predictions about three classmates.

• What will they be doing at that moment? What will they have achieved? What will they have given up?

• Be specific, and be kind. Mostly.

• Then each "victim" responds: Actually, by 2036 I'll have...

• Writing (optional homework): Write your own five-year plan (100-120 words) in Nadia's style. At least four future perfect forms with by, and three future continuous forms.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

B GIST She wants to clear her debt, buy a flat and build a cake business into a shop within five years; Omar points out that she has only sold four cakes, would be working seven days a week, and still borrows bus money.

C 1 paid off her credit card · 2 saved (enough for) a deposit on a flat · 3 working two jobs · 4 living in her own place · 5 sold thousands of cakes · 6 opened a shop.

D PART 1 1 Finished before that time; will have + past participle. 2 By; at the latest. 3 In progress; will be + -ing. 4 Getting the job (future perfect) happens first; standing in the queue (future continuous) is in progress later.

D PART 2 1 First: dinner starts at 8.00; second: already in progress. 2 Already planned and decided; the present continuous (I'm working two jobs from September). 3 won't be + -ing / won't have + past participle. 4 Invert the subject and will.

RULES future perfect; future continuous.

E 1-8 1 will be working · 2 will have left · 3 will be serving · 4 will have reached · 5 'll be driving · 6 will have eaten · 7 will have paid · 8 'll be lying

E CONVERSATION 1 will still be using · 2 will have stopped · 3 'll be paying · 4 won't be driving · 5 will be driving · 6 will have banned · 7 will you be doing · 8 'll be sitting · 9 'll have paid