The future progressive

Samantha, I have a question for you. I am a Vietnamese and I speak French, and so I have some problems with the continuous tense in English. Actually, I can’t really find out the difference between I’ll miss you and I’ll be missing you. Can you explain to me?

Well hi Thuc, that’s a great question! And I’ll just say you’re not the first student to feel confused about the different forms of the future tense!

But let’s start with I’ll miss you. We’re using the future with will here, to let someone know that we’ll feel sad about not being with them. And in this example, no time is mentioned, so although these people will miss each other, we don’t know whether or when they’ll be meeting again. And I’ll miss you is just a simple statement of a fact.

But in the sentence I’ll be missing you, we’re using the future progressive to express the same feeling, but the emphasis is slightly different. The use of the progressive verb missingemphasises the continuation of the feeling, because the condition or action is ongoing. Because the progressive form of the verb is associated with action, it draws attention to the actual experience of something. So the difference between I’ll miss you and I’ll be missing you  is that the use of the future progressive has a bit more power because it highlights the constant experience of loneliness or loss. However, I’ll be missing you also seems to suggest that the two people will meet again, because we could almost add a second part to the sentence - I’ll be missing you until I see you again.

And there’s a line in a famous song which sums up the power of the future progressive, but don’t worry Thuc, I’m not going to sing to you now! But listen to this:

I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places

The use of the future progressive here draws attention to the fact that the person will be constantly reminded or haunted by the memory of his lover. If the line had been I’ll see you in all the old familiar places, I don’t think the song would be remembered today the way it is! I’ll see you in all the old familiar places is quite factual and it doesn’t conjure up the image of an unhappy lover enduring a painful separation.

Similarly, I’ll think of you on the airplane could mean ‘I’ll think of you once or twice’ but I’ll be thinking about you on the airplane suggests that I’ll constantly be thinking about you.

Well, I’ll be thinking about you Thuc, and I hope that you found these explanations useful!