The Future Perfect Continuous in the Past

is a tense used to talk about an ongoing action that was expected to be completed at a specific point in the past.

It is formed using the past participle of will have been (which is would have been) and the present participle form (-ing) of the main verb.

Affirmative:

Subject + would have been + present participle of verb + object

Example: They would have been working on this project for 6 months by the end of last year.

Negative:

Subject + would not have been + present participle of verb + object

Example: She would not have been studying for 2 hours by the time we got home.

Question:

Would + subject + have been + present participle of verb + object?

Example: Would you have been driving for 8 hours by the time you arrived?

Usage:

Future Perfect Continuous in the Past is used to talk about:

An ongoing action that was expected to be completed at a specific point in the past:

Example: When the clock struck midnight, they would have been celebrating their anniversary for ten hours.

It is used to describe a future action that had been planned or expected but did not occur for some reason, and to discuss what would have happened if that action had taken place.

Example: We had been preparing for a big outdoor event, but it was cancelled due to the heavy rain. If it had taken place, we would have been enjoying live music, food stalls, and various activities.

To describe what was expected to happen in the past but did not happen due to unforeseen circumstances or events.

Example: They would have been working on this project for 6 months by the end of last year, but the project was cancelled in the middle.

To speculate about what might have happened if things had gone differently in the past.

Example: If he had arrived on time, we would have been waiting for him for an hour.

To discuss what could have happened in a hypothetical situation in the past.

Example: If she had continued practicing every day, she would have been playing the piano professionally then.

Adverbs in Future Perfect Continuous in the Past:

Adverbs can be used in Future Perfect Continuous in the Past to provide more information about the duration, frequency, or timing of the ongoing action.

Some common adverbs that can be used with this tense include:

For indicates the duration of the ongoing action.

They would have been studying for 2 hours by the time we arrived.

By indicates the point in time when the ongoing action was expected to be completed.

She would have been practicing for 6 months by the end of last year.

Already indicates that the ongoing action had already started before a certain point in the past.

They would have already been waiting for an hour when we arrived.

Not yet indicates that the ongoing action had not yet started before a certain point in the past.

They wouldn’t have been working on the project yet when we arrived.

All day/week/month/year indicates the frequency of the ongoing action:

They would have been working on this project all day yesterday.

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