Future Perfect Continuous Stories with Exercises and Answers (Free PDF)

Two Instruments, One Tune

Every Saturday since mid-September, Lale has walked to her grandfather’s house with her wooden flute. Today is their sixth session, five weeks after their start. By next Saturday afternoon, when the family gathers for tea, Lale and her grandfather will have been practicing their duet for six full weeks. By that seventh meeting, they will have been meeting in this kitchen every weekend since mid-September, learning one simple folk melody.

Lale sits on a wooden chair while her grandfather tunes his guitar. At home, she practices alone until her fingers move easily. Yet playing louder during rehearsals does not create a true duet. Her sharp notes often cover his gentle strumming completely.

They begin at half past one. “Let us check the tempo,” her grandfather says, tapping the guitar frame. “By two o’clock, we will have been working on this piece for thirty minutes. We will not have been playing for all thirty minutes, since we stopped to tune and talk, but steady practice is best.”

Lale looks at the music stand. “By next Saturday, will we have been trying to play at the exact same second for six weeks and still sound crowded?” she asks. “When I push my notes forward, the tune feels crowded, like two people speaking at once.”

“A duet is a conversation, not a speech,” her grandfather answers. “By next weekend, you will have been playing this melody since September, so trust your fingers. Watch my hands on the strings. When my rhythm slows down, that is your signal to step into the open space.”

They restart the middle section. Lale takes a soft breath and waits half a beat. She lets the warm guitar chord fill the room before lifting her flute. Instead of forcing her sound, she guides her melody into the space he creates. The two parts move together without competing.

Her grandfather adjusts his tempo to match her breath, nodding as the chords resolve. By the end of today’s rehearsal, Lale will have been practicing that single pause for twenty minutes, but the change is already clear. Leaving room for another instrument does not weaken her sound.

By next Saturday afternoon, the two musicians will have been preparing this modest piece together for six full weeks. They will not have been practicing nonstop every day, but their weekly meetings have taught them to share sound. When their relatives sit down next weekend, Lale and her grandfather will have been learning how to listen, breathe, and play as one.

Questions

1. How long will Lale and her grandfather have been practicing their duet by next Saturday afternoon?
2. Why did the duet feel crowded when Lale first played her flute with her grandfather?
3. Why does Lale wait half a beat before lifting her flute?
4. What does the grandfather mean when he tells Lale that a duet is ‘a conversation, not a speech’?

Future Perfect Continuous Practice

1. Choose the future perfect continuous form. By next Saturday afternoon, Lale and her grandfather __________ their folk piece for six full weeks.
   • will have been practicing
   • will be practicing
   • have been practicing
   • practiced
2. Complete the sentence with the future perfect continuous of ‘work’: By two o’clock, the two musicians __________ on this piece for thirty minutes. Use four words.
3. Put the words in order to form a statement: learning / will / together / have / they / been
4. Choose the correct word to express the starting point in time: ‘By next weekend, you will have been playing this melody __________ September.’
   • since
   • for
   • during
   • until
5. Complete the sentence with the negative future perfect continuous of ‘play’: By two o’clock, we __________ for the full thirty minutes because of our pauses to tune. Use five words; do not use a contraction.

Your turn: Write 2-3 sentences about a skill you are currently practicing. Describe how long you will have been doing it by the end of this year using the future perfect continuous.

The Experiment That Refused to Hurry

In 1927, Professor Thomas Parnell begins an unusual physics demonstration at the University of Queensland. He wants to show that pitch, a dark substance that feels solid to the touch, is actually an extremely slow-moving liquid. Parnell heats a sample of pitch and pours it into a glass funnel with a sealed stem, allowing it to cool and settle. Viewed forward from this 1927 starting point, the historical timeline measures decades of patient physical change. When Parnell cuts the stem in October 1930, the pitch will have been resting in the glass for three years.

After Parnell cuts the stem, gravity pulls the thick substance downward into a stretching neck. Seasonal temperature changes affect the speed of the descent. Summer warmth softens the pitch, while winter cold slows it down. Because the weather shifts throughout each year, the pitch will not have been moving at a constant speed. By 1938, when the first drop finally separates and falls, the pitch will have been flowing through the stem for about eight years.

The demonstration continues quietly in the physics building, with no one trying to speed it up. By 1970, the slow-moving pitch will have been traveling downward since October 1930. By April 1979, when the sixth drop separates from the stem, the dark liquid will have been dripping for about forty-nine years. By July 1988, when the seventh drop lands below, the substance will have been descending for nearly fifty-eight years.

Each fallen drop marks a completed, countable result, but the slow descent of the pitch continues. Observers record the distinct drops after long intervals of waiting. Meanwhile, the unfallen pitch above keeps pressing toward the stem. Decades after the initial cut, the pitch will have been moving through the funnel since 1930. It clearly demonstrates the fluid behavior of a material that appears solid.

Questions

1. What does Professor Thomas Parnell intend to prove with his physics demonstration?
2. Why does the pitch not move downward at a steady speed throughout the year?
3. What does a ‘completed, countable result’ mean in this experiment?
4. How does cutting the stem change what the pitch can do?

Future Perfect Continuous Practice

1. Choose the future perfect continuous form. When Parnell cuts the stem in October 1930, the pitch __________ in the glass for three years.
   • will have been resting
   • has been resting
   • will be resting
   • is resting
2. Complete the negative future perfect continuous form (two words): Because temperatures shift, the pitch will not have __________ __________ at a constant speed.
3. Put the scrambled words in order to form a sentence: flowing / will / pitch / have / the / been
4. Choose the correct time preposition: By 1970, the slow-moving pitch will have been traveling downward __________ October 1930.
   • since
   • for
   • during
   • until
5. Complete the future perfect continuous structure with one auxiliary verb: By July 1988, the substance will __________ been descending for nearly fifty-eight years.

Your turn: Imagine you are tracking an ongoing science experiment or long study habit. Write two sentences using the future perfect continuous with ‘for’ or ‘since’ to describe how long it will have been continuing by a future date.

The Patch We Leave Uncut

Every Saturday morning, Neve walks to the Oak Street community garden with a spiral notebook. She started her project seven weeks ago in May. Today is her eighth Saturday morning in the garden. Beside the main gravel walkway, a small square patch of grass grows uncut. Neve visits for one hour each weekend, not every day. By next Saturday, Neve will have been visiting this patch weekly for eight full weeks. When she arrives next weekend to finish her project, she will have been tracking insect activity since the middle of May. Her goal is to see if an unmown patch can shelter bumblebees without blocking the path.

So far, her notes describe bumblebees on wild clover and tiny beetles beneath the stems. But this morning brings a practical problem. Neve’s grandfather walks down the gravel path, leaning lightly on his wooden walking stick. Recent June rain has made the grass grow tall, and outer blades spill across the gravel. Her grandfather must step onto damp soil to keep his walking stick from catching in the leaves.

“I like the green clover,” her grandfather says with a warm smile, “but the path has become very narrow.” Neve looks at the gravel. The walkway must stay open for older neighbors and heavy wheelbarrows. She wants to protect the clover, but she also needs to keep the path clear for her neighbors. She explains the trouble to the coordinator, who brings long border shears.

“You do not need to cut down every blade,” the coordinator advises gently. “Good gardening often means finding a tidy border.” At eleven o’clock, Neve kneels beside the path. She trims only the overhanging grass, leaving the dense center untouched. By the time the church clock strikes noon, Neve will have been clipping stems alongside the coordinator for nearly an hour. The trimmed edge looks neat, and the deep center still stands tall.

Her grandfather walks back down the path, his walking stick tapping cleanly on dry gravel. “The path is wide enough again,” he says, watching two bees hover over the clover. “By next Saturday, you will have been examining these plants every weekend for eight weeks.” Neve smiles and notes the time. “And by that final morning, I will have been recording insect numbers since May,” she replies. When she completes her project next Saturday, she will have been studying this wild square for eight full weeks. The center still shelters wildlife, and the path welcomes every visitor.

Questions

1. How often does Neve visit the community garden patch?
2. Why does Neve’s grandfather need to step off the gravel walkway onto damp soil?
3. Why does Neve decide to trim only the edges instead of mowing the entire patch?
4. What result shows that Neve and the coordinator successfully solved the path problem?

Future Perfect Continuous Practice

1. Choose the future perfect continuous form: By the time the church clock strikes noon, Neve __________ overhanging grass for nearly an hour.
   • will have been trimming
   • has been trimming
   • is trimming
   • will trim
2. Complete the sentence using the future perfect continuous of ‘visit’ (four words): By next Saturday, Neve __________ this community garden patch for eight full weeks.
3. Put the words in order to make a future perfect continuous sentence: been / studying / she / will / plants / have
4. Which preposition correctly completes the sentence to show duration: Next weekend, Neve will have been studying the uncut square __________ eight weeks.
   • for
   • since
   • during
   • until
5. Complete the sentence with the correct time preposition for a starting point (one word): When she finishes her project, Neve will have been recording insect numbers __________ the middle of May.

Your turn: Write two or three sentences about a skill, sport, or hobby you practice. Use the future perfect continuous with ‘for’ or ‘since’ to describe how long you will have been doing it by a specific future date.

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Print all 6 stories and their activities. The answer key follows the student pages.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What level are these stories for?

These stories are written for B1 English learners. Read with support when needed.

What does the PDF include?

6 stories, reading questions, future perfect continuous exercises, writing tasks, and a separate answer key.

When do we use the future perfect continuous?

Use will have been plus an -ing verb to emphasize the duration of an activity leading up to a specific point in the future. Use will not have been (won’t have been) for negatives and Will + subject + have been + -ing for questions. In ordinary future time clauses with when or by the time, use present tenses rather than will.