The future tense is used in daily conversation to communicate about the plans, actions that might occur in the future at the said time. The future tense is constructed only in three forms simple future, future continuous, and future perfect tense. The future perfect continuous tense is similar to the future perfect tense but describes longer actions. The phrasal verb “Will be” is used to form future continuous tense, and “Will have” is used to form the future perfect tense.
Will Be vs Will Have
The main difference between “Will be” and “Will have” is that “Will be” is used in constructing future continuous tense that describes the actions that will occur at the said time in the future. “Will have” is used in future perfect tense to describe the actions that will be accomplished before the stated time in the future.
“Will be” is used to express future actions, to enquires, to refer to events that occur naturally, and to predict the future. The future continuous tense is used in positive, negative, and interrogative sentences. “Will be” is preferred in questioning than will have.
Future Continuous Tense (Will/Shall be)
Subject + will/shall + be + first form (main verb) -affirmative sentence
Subject + will/shall + not + be + first form (main verb) – negative sentence
Will/shall+ subject + be+ main verb + object? – Interrogative sentence
Will/shall + subject + not+ be+ main verb + object? – Negative Interrogative sentence
“Will have” is used to express the actions that will be accomplished before the specified time in the future. The future perfect tense is complicated to construct than the future continuous tense. It is also used to construct positive, negative, and interrogative sentences.
Future Perfect Tense (Will/Shall have)
Subject + will/shall + have + main verb (third form) + object -affirmative sentence
Subject + will/shall + have + main verb (third form) – negative sentence
Will/shall+ subject + have+ main verb (third form) + object? – Interrogative sentence
Will/shall + subject + not+ have+ main verb (third form) + object? – Negative Interrogative sentence
Comparison Table Between Will Be and Will Have
| Parameters of Comparison | Will Be | Will Have |
| Tense | “Will be” is used in constructing the future progressive tense. | “Will have” is used in constructing the future perfect tense. |
| Meaning | “Will be” is used to express the future actions that will occur at a specific time. | “Will have” is used to express that future action will happen before the stated time in the future. |
| Main Verb | The main verb of “will be” is the present participle or first form of the verb. | The auxiliary verb “Will have” proceed with the past participle. |
| Short Form | ‘ll is a contracted form of “Will be” and ‘won’t be is a short form of will not be. | ‘ll have is a contracted form of “Will have” and Won’t have for will not have. |
| Example | I will be on holiday by this time next week. | I will have written articles by this time tomorrow. |
What is Will Be?
The future continuous tense is constructed with auxiliary verbs “will be” to express the future actions that will take place at a particular time if everything goes as per plan. The phrasal verb “Will be” is followed by present or past participles as the main verb. The subject of the future continuous tense can be any personal pronoun. When two actions are combined in the future tense, the first sentence will be continuous, and the second tense will be present simple. Will is also replaced with shall in the future tenses.
Affirmative sentence
Example: I am learning to swim. I will be swimming like an expert.
I will be eating dinner when you arrive.
Affirmative sentence
Example: I will have submitted articles by Friday.
Negative Sentence
Example: I won’t have gone to the office.
Interrogative sentence
Example: Will she have submitted the articles?
Where will she have gone?
Negative interrogative sentence
Example: Will she have not submitted the articles?
Main Differences Between Will Be and Will Have
- “Will be” is used to form a future continuous tense that expresses the completed future actions at the said time, whereas “Will have” is used in future perfect tense to describe the actions that will be accomplished before the said time.
- The main verb of “will be” is either a present participle or past participle, whereas the main verb of the “Will has” is the past participle.
- The actions described using future continuous tense may or may not happen in the future, whereas the “Will have” sentences guarantee to happen.
- “Will be” is formal and polite to use when enquiring someone than “will have.”
- “Will be” is easy to construct and use, whereas “will have” is complicated.
Conclusion
The future tense is often used in daily conversation to describe possibilities, certainty, futurity, suggest, and other emotions. “Will be” is used in constructing future continuous tense to describe the plans that may be completed before the expected time, whereas “will have” is used in constructing future perfect tense the plans that have to be completed before the specified time in the future. Two or more sentences are combined in the future perfect or future continuous tense.
References
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=WSfxDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT27&dq=future+continuous+and+future+perfect+tense&ots=6g1Tpx94x_&sig=HGR5SVGhErdq8g1P9s_n3aFs5go
- https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01234612/