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6a This time tomorrow, we'll be crossing the Atlantic. 6b We'd better move the dining-table into the kitchen. We'll be eating there during the winter. The progressive form in sentence 6a, as in examples 1a, and 2a, indicates an activity in progress at a specific time, in this case in the future. In 6b, it indicates that the speaker views the series of future actions (eating in the kitchen) as a temporary arrangement. The use of the progressive infinitive after will (7b) may be compared with the simple inifinitive (7a), and with the present progressive referring to future (7c): 7a I'll see him about it tomorrow. 7b I'll be seeing him about it tomorrow. 7c I'm seeing him about it tomorrow. In 7a, the speaker is making a promise or announcing a decision about his future actions, whereas in 7b, the speaker suggests that 'seeing him' will occur as a part of the normal pattern of events. 7c, on the other hand, suggests that the event is part of a specially pre-arranged plan. In a question, the use of the progressive infinitive may represent the prelude to a request or suggestion for some further action in the event of an affirmative answer: Will you be seeing him tomorrow? If the answer to the question is 'Yes', the speaker might go on to make a request: 'well, in that case, could you tell him I got his letter?' We can make one further distinction between the present progressive referring to future and the future progressive: a I'm giving a lesson at two o'clock tomorrow. b I shall be giving a lesseon at two o'clock tomorrow. Sentence a states that the lesson will begin at two o'clock, whereas b suggests that the lesson may already be in progress at that time. |