Two precise tools for talking about the future: an action in progress, and an action already finished.
At B1 you talked about the future mainly with will and going to. At B2 you gain two sharper tools that let you place yourself at a moment in the future and describe what is happening around that moment.
The Future Continuous (will be + V-ing) shows an action in progress at a future time. The Future Perfect (will have + V3) shows an action that will be complete before a future point. Together they make your plans sound confident and exact.
Fix the shape of each tense first. Notice that both new tenses begin with will, and only what comes after it changes.
| Tense | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Future Continuous | will be + V-ing | At 9 p.m. I will be studying. |
| Future Perfect | will have + V3 | By 9 p.m. I will have studied for three hours. |
| Future Perfect Continuous | will have been + V-ing | By 9 p.m. I will have been studying all evening. |
Picture a clock in the future and ask: what will be happening right then? The Future Continuous (will be + V-ing) answers that. It is also a natural, polite way to talk about something that is going to happen anyway, as part of the normal course of events.
Now imagine standing at a future point and looking back at something already done. The Future Perfect (will have + V3) describes an action completed before that point. It almost always travels with a marker such as by, by the time or before.
The clearest way to feel the difference is to compare all three around the same moment. Ask yourself: is the action just a fact, is it in progress, or is it already over?
| Form | Meaning | Example (at 8 p.m. tomorrow) |
|---|---|---|
| will do | a simple future fact or decision | I will cook dinner tomorrow. |
| will be doing | in progress at that moment | At 8 p.m. I will be cooking dinner. |
| will have done | already finished by that moment | By 8 p.m. I will have cooked dinner. |
These little phrases anchor your sentence in the future. Learn what each one signals — and one dangerous trap.
| Signal | Points to | Example |
|---|---|---|
| this time tomorrow / next week | an exact future moment → Future Continuous | This time next week I will be moving house. |
| by + a future time (by 2030, by June) | not later than → Future Perfect | By June they will have opened the bridge. |
| by the time + present tense | before another future event → Future Perfect | By the time you get home, I will have left. |
| by then | before a point already mentioned | The show starts at nine; by then we will have eaten. |
These are the errors B2 students still make with future forms. Check your own writing against every row.
| Wrong ✗ | Right ✓ | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| By the time she will call, we will have left. | By the time she calls, we will have left. | no "will" after "by the time" → present tense. |
| This time tomorrow I will flown to Rome. | This time tomorrow I will be flying to Rome. | an action in progress → will be + V-ing. |
| By 2040 they will finished the metro. | By 2040 they will have finished the metro. | Future Perfect needs "have" + V3. |
| By June I will have been finish it. | By June I will have finished it. | "will have been" needs V-ing, not a bare verb. |
| At midnight we will have danced. | At midnight we will be dancing. | "at midnight" = in progress → Future Continuous. |
Two friends talk about a busy week ahead. Read it twice and watch how the future forms cooperate: the Future Continuous shows what is in progress, the Future Perfect shows what is already done, and by the time keeps its clause in the present.
Choose the correct answer. — 10 questions, each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Learn the words, then use them to talk about where you will be and what you will have done.
Write 8 sentences about a plan or a dream project — your studies, a career, a home or a trip. Use at least 8 of the words above.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
Read the text, then answer the questions.
Good readers prepare before they start. Before you read, think about these three questions (you do not need to write the answers):
Words to spot (from the Speaking section): ambition · envisage · accomplish · deadline · anticipate · prospect · schedule · long-term
Deniz has spent four years on the largest project of her career: a suspension bridge across the bay. Although the work has been exhausting, she rarely talks about the past — she prefers to talk about the future.
The bay had separated two towns for generations, and building a link across it had long been a national ambition. When the government finally invited engineers to bid for the contract, Deniz did not hesitate for a second. Ever since she was a student, she had aspired to lead a project on exactly this scale, and she knew that such a chance would probably never come again. She was also aware that she would be undertaking the hardest challenge of her whole career. 'The moment I first saw the plans, I could envisage the whole bridge in my mind,' she remembers. 'I could already picture the traffic crossing above and the ships passing safely below.' Turning that picture into steel and concrete, however, would demand years of patience. The first blueprint alone took eight months to complete, and by the time it was finally approved, her team had already redrawn almost every line at least once.
'By the time the bridge opens next spring, my team will have worked on it for almost five years,' she explains. 'We will have poured thousands of tonnes of concrete; moreover, we will have tested every single cable twice.' She says this calmly, since for an engineer the future is something you plan, not something you simply wait for.
A bridge of this size is never simply a road resting on legs. Every calculation has to anticipate the forces of wind, waves and even earthquakes, because a structure like this must stand for at least a hundred years. 'We estimate that around forty thousand vehicles a day will be using the bridge once it is fully open,' Deniz explains, 'so we cannot afford a single weak point anywhere in the design.' Her engineers produced draft after draft, testing each number on the computer before trusting it in the real world. This time last year, they were still arguing about the exact height of the towers and the tension in the cables. Now those towers rise proudly above the water, and that long debate already feels like a distant memory. Every difficult decision, she insists, will have been worth it on opening day.
The people who build the bridge matter to Deniz just as much as the steel and the cables. Nearly six hundred workers arrive on the site each day, and she often reminds the managers that no deadline is ever worth an accident. 'By the end of this project,' she says firmly, 'we will have worked well over a million hours together, and I want every single one of those hours to have been safe.' Over four years the crew has grown into a kind of family. Many of them will be moving on to fresh projects once the bridge is done; even so, almost all of them have promised to come back for the opening. Deniz quietly suspects that a few of these tough, experienced builders will be wiping their eyes when the very first car finally drives across.
Right now the towers are finished. This time next month, the workers will be installing the final section, and by the end of summer they will have joined the two sides. The schedule is tight; therefore, the crew now works in two shifts.
On the site, a young engineer named Efe follows Deniz everywhere, eager to learn from her. 'Will we really have finished before the winter storms?' he asked her one grey, windy morning. 'By the time the first storm arrives,' Deniz answered without looking up from her notes, 'the deck will already be in place, so the wind will have far less to push against. Trust the schedule and trust the numbers.' Efe is still learning to think the way she does — to stand at a point in the future and look back at a job that is already done. 'In twenty years,' she tells him with a quiet smile, 'you will be leading a bridge of your own, and by then you will have completely forgotten how nervous you feel today.'
Not everyone shares her calm confidence. Local reporters keep asking whether the deadline is truly realistic, and a few neighbours complain that the noise of the machines will never end. Deniz understands their doubts, yet she remains fully committed to the promise she has made. 'I have given five years of my life to this bay,' she says, 'and I will have earned the right to feel proud when the ribbon is finally cut.' For her, the prospect of opening day is not the end of a long ordeal but the natural reward for years of careful, patient work. Her long-term vision, though, reaches much further than a single ceremony. She hopes the bridge will accomplish something far greater than moving cars: in time, it will draw the two separated towns into one connected community, and she is ready to undertake whatever that goal demands.
There will still be hard days. However, Deniz stays optimistic. 'Some mornings something has gone wrong overnight; nevertheless, we always find a solution,' she says. 'By the time I retire, this bridge will have carried millions of cars, yet I will still feel proud every time I cross it.'
When she talks about retirement, Deniz does not sound tired at all; if anything, she sounds curious. She keeps a small notebook in which she jots down ideas for structures she has not yet built — a tunnel, a taller tower, a footbridge shaped like a wave. 'By the time I finally hang up my helmet,' she laughs, 'this notebook will have filled up several times over.' For her, one finished project is simply the doorway to the next question. That is why the opening of the bridge, however grand the ceremony turns out to be, will feel less like a conclusion and more like a comma in a much longer sentence.
She is already looking beyond the opening. 'Next year, while most people are simply enjoying the new road, I will be running a study on how the bridge moves in strong wind. A good engineer is never truly finished. By then I will have started the next project, whereas the bridge will only just be beginning its long life.'
Choose the correct answer.
Are these sentences true or false, according to the text?
Complete each sentence with ONE word from the text. Mind the future form and the auxiliary (will / have / be).
Write your answer in your own words. These questions are not marked automatically.
1. What will Deniz's team have done by the time the bridge opens?
2. Why does the crew now work in two shifts?
3. What do you think Deniz means when she says 'a good engineer is never truly finished'?
Find these connectors in the text — each one appears at least once: however, therefore, nevertheless, although, whereas, moreover, since, yet. (You will use these same connectors in the Writing section.) Note them down, then check.
Spencer asks Curtis about his dream house and everything he would put in it.
You will hear a conversation: Spencer asks Curtis to describe his dream house — the rooms, the kitchen, the garden and the garage. You will listen TWICE. First listen: answer questions 1-5. Second listen: answer questions 6-10. (Kaydı İKİ kez dinleyeceksin: ilk dinlemede 1-5, ikinci dinlemede 6-10.)
Write and submit your paragraph; your teacher will review it.
At B1 you linked ideas with and, but, so, because. At B2 you sound noticeably more advanced when you use formal, precise connectors. Four of them are essential this unit — and two familiar ones, although and however, become sharper tools.
| Connector | Use it to... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| moreover | add a stronger, extra point | I will finish my degree. Moreover, I will have saved enough to travel. |
| therefore | show a logical result | The deadline is close; therefore, I will be working every weekend. |
| whereas | contrast two ideas directly | My friends will take safe jobs, whereas I will be building my own studio. |
| nevertheless | say "in spite of that" | The road will be hard. Nevertheless, I will keep going. |
| although | concede a point inside one sentence | Although it will take years, I will have finished by then. |
| however | contrast between two sentences | Plans change. However, my main ambition will stay the same. |
See the difference — the same facts, written two ways:
| Basic linking ✗ | Confident B2 writing ✓ |
|---|---|
| I will study hard. It will be difficult. I will not give up. I will finish one day. I will be happy. | I will study hard, although it will be difficult. Nevertheless, I will not give up; therefore, by the time I am thirty, I will have finished my studies. Moreover, I will be working in a job I love. |
A "future plan" paragraph has three parts. The skeleton stays the same — you change the content, not the structure:
| Part | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Opening | A topic sentence about your future | Ten years from now, my life will look very different. |
| 2. Body | Describe the plan. Use the Future Continuous for what will be in progress, the Future Perfect for what will be complete, and anchor it with "by / by then / this time next year". Link with B2 connectors. | By the time I am thirty, I will have finished my studies. Nevertheless, I will still be learning. |
| 3. Closing | A final comment about a goal you will not have reached yet | I will not have achieved everything, therefore I will keep working. |
Write about where you will be and what you will have done ten years from now — in your studies, work, or personal life. Mix the future forms of this unit.
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will evaluate your writing.)
Mixed questions from the whole unit, then check what you can do.
14 questions: grammar + vocabulary + reading + listening. Each question is marked instantly.
Tick what you can do now. Honest answers help your teacher.
İşaretlemediğin madde varsa ilgili bölüme dönüp tekrar çalış — soldaki menüden her bölüme geri dönebilirsin.
Oturum kontrol ediliyor...