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We can also use will be+verb-ing to make a prediction about something we believed to be the case now.

You can't interrupt her now. She will be getting ready to go on stage, won't she?

.....

I can not understand the concept of the following: In addition what is the alternative to use instead of will be verb-ing in such situations? Think

make a prediction about something we believed to be the case now.

nima
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    It's likely you haven't finished writing your question, several words seem to be missing. BTW "She will be getting ready" is not future perfect, it's future with BE-Ving. Future perfect would be "She will have got ready" which of course doesn't fit your sentence. – None Mar 18 '14 at 13:31
  • I can see you have edited your question but still don't understand what you are asking. What is it you say you don't understand? – None Mar 18 '14 at 14:08
  • Are you asking about the use of "D'oh"? That would be a separate question. – Jolenealaska Mar 18 '14 at 14:21
  • One source of confusion might be why it is "will be -ing" and not "is -ing". Is this what you are confused about, @nima_persian? – nxx Mar 18 '14 at 15:17

2 Answers2

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It's all about certainty.

Let's say that Anne says this to you because Jane is getting ready (to go on stage), and Jane, Anne, and you are all in the same room, Anne would naturally say this:

a) You can't interrupt her now. She is getting ready to go on stage, isn't she?

Now, let's assume that Anne and you are in a hallway near Jane's room. Both of you can't see what Jane is doing at this moment. Anne has nothing to do with Jane's show, but she might know that Jane is probably going to be on stage soon, so logically Jane is probably getting herself ready. Anne might say this:

b) You can't interrupt her now. She might be getting ready to go on stage, mightn't she?

Now, let's assume that Anne, still in the hallway with you, is rather sure that Jane must be getting herself ready at this moment, because she is Jane's manager! However, she can't be 100% sure, because she can't see what Jane is doing right now. Anne would naturally say this:

c) You can't interrupt her now. She will be getting ready to go on stage, won't she?

Here is a small thing. If Anne is absolutely sure that Jane's getting herself ready, she can simply say "is getting"--as in sentence (a)--without having to actually see what Jane is doing.

Damkerng T.
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  • So, WILL BE VING is demonstrating a surlier situation that the others which you already have provided? – nima Mar 19 '14 at 04:44
  • "She is getting ready ..." expresses the most certainty. (In the example above, they are in the same room. Anne can see Jane, so Anne can know for sure that Jane is getting ready.) "She will be getting ready ..." is a speculation, but the speaker is fairly certain that it has to be so. – Damkerng T. Mar 19 '14 at 05:13
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It may be helpful to think of it this way: "At the point in time that you interrupt her, you will find that she is getting ready to go on stage." That's why we use the future, because he hasn't interrupted her yet.

By the way, the "won't she?" is characteristically British. For example, you will hear things like this in the UK all the time: "You need to go to the shop. I already went yesterday, didn't I?" It's a way of softening an unequivocally contradictory statement. Americans don't do this; perhaps because we are a bit more fond of contradiction than the British.

BobRodes
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  • I am yet confused with the followings:We can also use will be+verb-ing to make a prediction about something we believed to be the case now.

    You can't interrupt her now. She will be getting ready to go on stage

     – nima Mar 18 '14 at 17:55