Future in the Past Continuous

How to build it

• Affirmative: would be + verb-ing: She said she would be writing the letter all evening. Short form: I’d be, she’d be.
• Negative: wouldn’t be + verb-ing: He told us he wouldn’t be working on Friday.
• Question: usually inside a sentence about the past: I asked if she would be using the car.

When to use it

• Reported speech, when the original had the Future Continuous: “I’ll be travelling next week,” she said → She said she would be travelling the following week.
• An action expected to be in progress at a moment that was in the future from a past point of view: I knew that at midnight they would be celebrating.
• Past plans and expectations seen as the normal course of events: She was excited — in a month she would be living in Paris.

Examples

• He told me he’d be waiting outside.
• I thought you would be sleeping by then.
• They said they would be staying in Lviv for the summer.
• We knew the kids would be watching cartoons all morning.

Common mistakes

• Keeping will be after a past reporting verb: She said she will be working late → She said she would be working late (unless it’s still in the future now).
• State verbs: He said he would be knowing the answer → He said he would know the answer.
• Using it for a single future action: She said she would be calling me is possible, but if you just mean a promise or plan, She said she would call me is simpler.

The passive

would + be + being + V3 — She said the letter would be being written — is grammatical, but avoided in practice. Use the Future in the Past Simple passive (They said the road would be repaired), the Past Continuous passive in reported speech (They said the road was being repaired), or an active sentence: They said they would be repairing the road all week.