Definition:
A verb construction (made up of the verb phrase "will be" or "shall be" plus a present participle) that conveys a sense of ongoing action in the future. See also:
Examples and Observations:
- "We're going to raise crops here where before it just simply was impossible. You're going to have more grain than you'll know what to do with. Bread will be coming right out of your ears, ma'am."
(Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, 2007) - "She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes."
("Coming 'Round the Mountain," American folk song) - In some cases the simple future and the future progressive tenses express very similar situations or actions, especially when the future action takes place at an indefinite time in the future. In the following examples, note that both sentences express an almost identical situation: We can't say for sure at what time Tyler is coming, but he is expected soon:
- Tyler will come soon.
- Tyler will be coming soon.
- "Pray for me. I shall remember you. Let us so live that when we get to heaven, we shall be looking for one another."
(George Thompson, Prison Life and Reflections, 1857) - "The old will be watching their contemporaries and wondering how long it will be before their turn comes, hoping their bladders will hold out, and the young will be watching the old."
(P. D. James, A Taste for Death, Random House, 2007)
Also Known As: future continuous
