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By 2035, what will AI have designed? The future perfect: will have + past participle

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches the future perfect tense through protein design, the computer work that won David Baker half of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Grammar
Will have + past participle for something finished before a future time (By 2035, labs will have designed…), with by, by then, by the time and before, in every form.
Topic
How computers design proteins nature never made, from Top7 in 2003 to today's AI tools, with words such as automate, from scratch and hype.
Activities
An explainer to read, a lab visit and a nurse's voice memo to hear, self-checking drills, a planning chat, a timeline to order and boxes to debate.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: the machines are coming (to the lab)

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: designing the futureVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2The Why Desk: proteins nature never made

    • Look at the photo: designing a proteinPictureUnlock
    • Read Harper's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the pairs: put the sentence halves togetherMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Field story: please don't touch the pipette

    • Listen to Harper and Alton in a Seattle labListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Ron's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: By then, we'll have tested it

    • Study the scheme: will have + past participleGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the future perfect of the verbs in bracketsFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: make the negative and the questionFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Your turn: plan it, then predict it

    • Choose the right replies: plan a project timeline with EliasChatTry it
    • Put the parts of Elias's timeline in the correct orderDrag and dropUnlock
    • Open a box and answer: predict and debateOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the future perfectFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct order: new sentencesUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: future perfect or not?QuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: the lab's goals for 2030Choose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Harper answers RonDrag and dropUnlock

34 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • protein
  • building block
  • from scratch
  • fraction
  • trial and error
  • task
  • target
  • hype
  • pipette

Grammar: the future perfect simple: will have + past participle

The future perfect looks back from a point in the future at something that will be over by then: By next year, Alton will have tested about two hundred designs. A question about what AI will have designed by 2035 needs exactly this view, so learners stand at the future moment and look back, then add the time words that point to it.

By 2035, scientists will have designed…

Use will have + past participle for an action that will be finished before a time in the future. You look back at it from that time.

Will or will have?

Will + base form is the action itself: In 2030, Alton will test the sensor in a river. Will have + past participle sees it as done: his tests end on Friday, so on Saturday he will have finished them.

Looking back from the future

pastfuturenow
  • now: Alton starts his tests
  • he tests about two hundred designs
  • next year: he will have tested them

will or will have?

will + base form is the action itself: In 2030, Alton will test the sensor in a river. will have + past participle looks back from a later moment, when the action is over. Your tests end on Friday, so on Saturday you will have finished them (not: will finish them). With by the time and already, it means “finished before”: I'll already have left.

Every person, negatives and questions

Have never changes: she will have finished, not will has or will had. The negative is won't have + participle, and questions put the subject after will: Will they have tested it? – Yes, they will. Irregular verbs use their third form: written, built, chosen.

will have + past participle, for every person

PersonPositiveNegativeQuestion and short answers
II will have tested it. (I'll have tested)I won't have tested it.Will I have tested it? Yes, I will. / No, I won't.
youYou will have finished. (You'll have finished)You won't have finished.Will you have finished? Yes, you will. / No, you won't.
heHe will have written it. (He'll have written)He won't have written it.Will he have written it? Yes, he will. / No, he won't.
sheShe will have built it. (She'll have built)She won't have built it.Will she have built it? Yes, she will. / No, she won't.
itIt will have grown. (It'll have grown)It won't have grown.Will it have grown? Yes, it will. / No, it won't.
weWe will have chosen it. (We'll have chosen)We won't have chosen it.Will we have chosen it? Yes, we will. / No, we won't.
theyThey will have designed it. (They'll have designed)They won't have designed it.Will they have designed it? Yes, they will. / No, they won't.

have never changes

After will, it's always have, for every person: she will have finished (not: will has, will had). After have comes the past participle (the third form): designed, tested, completed, but written, built, grown, chosen, made, found, left, eaten, read, seen, flown, cut (not: will have design, will have wrote). Questions: Will they have tested it? (not: Will have they…?)

By, by then, by the time and before

By + a time, by then and by the time point to the finish line: By the time the paper comes out, they will have checked every result. After by the time and before, use the present simple, not will. And it's by 2030, not until 2030.

Time words that point to the finish

Time wordsExample
by + a time: by 2035, by next June, by FridayBy next June, Alton will have written his thesis.
by thenThe lab moves in 2030. By then, they will have tested the sensor.
by the time + present simpleBy the time the paper comes out, they will have checked every result.
before + present simpleThey will have tested it before they share it.
already: will already haveBy the time you wake up, I'll already have left.

No will after by the time and before

In a time clause, use the present simple, even about the future: By the time the paper comes out (not: will come out), they will have tested it. We'll have chosen the best designs before the meeting starts (not: will start). And it's by 2030, not until 2030: until is for something that goes on up to that time.

Common mistakes

Watch for will have design (say designed), by the time the paper will come out (say comes out) and will had finished. With already, keep have + past participle: we'll already have eaten all the pizza, not we'll already eat.

  • By 2030, she will have design a new sensor.

    By 2030, she will have designed a new sensor.

    have + past participle

  • By the time the paper will come out, they will have tested it.

    By the time the paper comes out, they will have tested it.

    by the time + present simple

  • By next June, he will had finished his thesis.

    By next June, he will have finished his thesis.

    will + have, never had or has

  • By the time you get here, we'll already eat all the pizza.

    By the time you get here, we'll already have eaten all the pizza.

    finished before you arrive: will have + past participle

In the lab in Seattle

  • By next year, I'll have tested about two hundred designs.
  • By 2030, I'll have written my thesis, if I'm lucky.
  • By 2035, robots will have automated the boring tasks.
  • Will you have made a sensor that works by the time you finish?
  • By the end of 2035, eleven years will have passed since the prize ceremony.
  • We won't have stopped testing them.

More lessons on this grammar: Future tenses lessons and exercises

Try the future perfect exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

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What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 6 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • say what will be finished before a future time: By next year, I'll have tested about two hundred designs.
  • form will have + past participle for every person, in negatives and questions: Will they have tested it by then? – No, they won't.
  • use the present simple after by the time and before: By the time the paper comes out, they will have checked every result.
  • choose will have started when one event ends before another: The meeting starts at 9:00. When Harper gets there at 9:30, it will have started.
  • make and defend a prediction: By 2035, labs will have designed proteins we can't imagine today.

Lesson 4 closes AI and the future of work, unit 1 of English B2.1 · How the World Works. It builds on the future time clauses of B1.1 lesson 11, the past perfect with by the time from B1.2 lesson 19 and lesson 2's by vs until. Lesson 5 opens the health unit with the third conditional, and lesson 30 adds the future perfect continuous. The lesson's question, what AI will have designed by 2035, is itself in the future perfect.

Students spin a wheel of questions about AI, science and plans, then learn twelve words, from complete and automate to trial and error and pipette, with pictures and audio. They read Harper's explainer for The Why Desk on designing new proteins with computers, then hear her visit Alton, a graduate student in a Seattle lab, and Ron, a nurse from Washington State, answer back; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them a table of negatives and questions for every person. In the speaking chapter, students plan a science fair video with Elias by chat, put his timeline in order and open boxes to predict and debate.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game, then new sentences to complete, future perfect gaps, word order, a quiz on when the future perfect is needed, a lab's goals for 2030 and Harper's answer to Ron with words to drag in.

Grammar:
future perfect simple · will have + past participle · by the time · by then
Topic:
David Baker · protein design · the Nobel Prize in Chemistry · Seattle · AI in science · the future of work · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Draw a finish line on a timeline: now, the work in progress, then next year. Students stand at the finish line and say what Alton will have done by then, and what he won't have done yet.
  • Ask what students will have done by Friday before the scheme: finished a book, paid a bill, cleaned the kitchen. Then each one adds something they won't have done by then.
  • Play the lab visit twice: first to hear who is hopeful and who is careful, then for every will have. Students write Harper's predictions in one column and Alton's in the other.
  • Keep predictions as opinions: nobody knows what AI will have designed by 2035. Students start with I think or The chances are and give one reason for each guess.

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The whole course: English B2.1 · How the World Works

32 lessons for adults at B2 in American English, each answering one question about how the world works. The team of The Why Desk, a small online magazine in Pittsburgh, takes on one question a week, from the day a computer beat the world chess champion to eight people sealed inside Biosphere 2. Learners tell stories with narrative tenses, speculate about the past and the future, and report what experts claim. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 AI and the future of work

    narrative tenses, by and until, be bound to and be likely to, the future perfect

    1. Lesson 1Checkmate: the day a computer beat the championNarrative tenses: past simple, past continuous and past perfect
    2. Lesson 2The robot car that crossed the desertTime prepositions: by, until, within, throughout, in time and on time
    3. Lesson 3Can a chatbot fool you?Probability about the future: be bound to, be likely to, the chances are
    4. Lesson 4 · you're hereBy 2035, what will AI have designed?The future perfect simple: will have + past participle

  2. Unit 2 Health breakthroughs

    the third conditional, the past perfect and past continuous passive, have something done, the passive with two objects

    1. Lesson 5The moldy melon that changed medicineThe third conditional: if + had done, would have done
    2. Lesson 61.8 million Polio PioneersThe past perfect passive and the past continuous passive
    3. Lesson 7One clinic, many doctorsHave / get something done
    4. Lesson 8A kidney from a twinThe passive with two objects

  3. Unit 3 Moving people

    the past perfect continuous, the passive infinitive and -ing form, it's worth and there's no point, the future in the past

    1. Lesson 9Six years to the golden spikeThe past perfect continuous vs the past perfect simple
    2. Lesson 10Riding a pod with no driverThe passive infinitive and the passive -ing form
    3. Lesson 11The town that painted bike lanes firstIt's worth, there's no point and it's no use + -ing
    4. Lesson 12The highways that were supposed to take 13 yearsThe future in the past

  4. Unit 4 Wildlife comebacks

    reporting verbs with a that clause, with an object and infinitive and with -ing, verbs of perception

    1. Lesson 13Did wolves really change Yellowstone's rivers?Reporting verbs + that clause
    2. Lesson 14Bringing a parrot back from the edgeReporting verbs + object + (not) to + base form
    3. Lesson 15The beavers that came by parachuteReporting verbs + -ing and verb + preposition + -ing
    4. Lesson 16Fifteen bison take the trainVerbs of perception + object + base form or -ing

  5. Unit 5 Pop culture goes global

    comment adverbs, wish and if only for the present and the past, have someone do and get someone to do

    1. Lesson 17The party that started hip hopComment adverbs: apparently, supposedly, undoubtedly
    2. Lesson 18Slide to the left!Wish and if only for wishes about now
    3. Lesson 19If only they'd kept SupermanWish and if only + past perfect for regrets
    4. Lesson 20The hit factory on West Grand BoulevardCausative have and get: have someone do, get someone to do

  6. Unit 6 Money and smart choices

    -ever words and no matter, should have and could have, prepositions for numbers and change, it's time and would rather

    1. Lesson 21The bank that never closed-ever words and no matter
    2. Lesson 22One marshmallow now or two later?Should have, shouldn't have and could have
    3. Lesson 23Benjamin Franklin's 200-year giftPrepositions for numbers and change
    4. Lesson 24Why buy a drill you'll use once?It's (high) time and would rather + past simple

  7. Unit 7 Language and communication

    must have, might have and can't have, verb prefixes and suffixes, past modals in continuous and passive forms, agreement with quantities

    1. Lesson 25How did one man write down a language?Past modals of deduction: must have, might have, can't have
    2. Lesson 26Why do Americans write “color”?Verb prefixes and suffixes: misspell, rewrite, simplify, shorten
    3. Lesson 27The joke that needed a smileyPast modals in continuous and passive forms
    4. Lesson 28Can preschoolers save a language?Subject-verb agreement with quantities and collective nouns

  8. Unit 8 Exploring the extremes

    dimension nouns, the future continuous and future perfect continuous, compound adjectives, only, even and just

    1. Lesson 29A walk on the ocean floorDimension nouns and phrases: depth, width, height
    2. Lesson 30Six months of night at the South PoleThe future continuous and the future perfect continuous
    3. Lesson 31Flying on pedal powerCompound adjectives with numbers and participles
    4. Lesson 32Two years under glassFocus adverbs: only, even, just and at all

Questions about this lesson

What is the future perfect tense?
The future perfect, will have + past participle, describes an action that will be complete before a certain time in the future: By next year, I'll have tested about two hundred designs. You stand at that future moment and look back at the finished work. The B2 lesson By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai teaches it with a protein design lab in Seattle.
How do you form the future perfect?
Put will have before the past participle, the same for every person: I will have finished, she'll have finished, they'll have finished. The negative is won't have + participle (He won't have written it.), and the question starts with Will: Will they have tested it by then? – Yes, they will. Never will has, will had or Will have they…? The scheme in By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai shows each person.
When do you use the future perfect?
Use it for an action over by a future moment, often with by + a time or by the time: By 2030, I'll have written my thesis. By the end of 2035, eleven years will have passed since the prize ceremony. It suits plans and deadlines too: By the end of week five, we'll have cut the video in half. In By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai, a graduate student uses it about his lab work.
What's the difference between the future perfect and the future simple?
It's the action itself versus the finished result. In 2030, Alton will test the sensor in a river describes the test. By 2030, he will have tested it says it will be done before then. If it ends before the moment you mean, use the future perfect: The store closes at 9 p.m. When you get there at 9:15, it will have closed. The quizzes in By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai check exactly this choice.
Is it “by the time it arrives” or “by the time it will arrive”?
It's by the time it arrives: a time clause takes the present simple, even about the future. By the time the paper comes out, they will have checked every result, not will come out. The same goes for before: We'll have chosen the best designs before the meeting starts. Will belongs only in the main clause. It's one of four common mistakes in the scheme of By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai.
Why did David Baker win the Nobel Prize?
David Baker of the University of Washington in Seattle won half of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, announced on October 9, for designing brand-new proteins with computers. His group's program Rosetta first predicted protein shapes, then ran in reverse, starting from the shape they wanted. In 2003 the group published Top7, a protein not found in nature, made years before modern AI. By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai tells the story.
What is AlphaFold, and how is it different from protein design?
AlphaFold2, from 2020, is an AI model that predicts how a protein folds. It has predicted the structure of virtually all 200 million known proteins. Demis Hassabis and John Jumper of Google DeepMind shared the other half of the 2024 chemistry prize for it. Design goes the other way: it starts from a shape and builds a new protein. By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai explains both.
How do I teach the future perfect to B2 students?
Start with a deadline the class shares, such as the end of the term, and ask what will be finished by then. Show will have + participle on a timeline, then add negatives, questions and by the time + present simple. By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai moves from a lab visit in Seattle to a timeline scheme, five drills and a project plan worked out in a chat.
What's a good game for practicing the future perfect?
Try “Time capsule”: each student writes three predictions about themselves in ten years with will have (I'll have learned to drive.), the papers are mixed, and the class guesses who wrote each one. Then the writers say which guess was closest. The boxes in By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai ask a similar question: By the time you're forty, what will you have learned?
What's good homework for the future perfect?
Good homework tests the time clause, not just the verb: a choice between get and will get after before, short answers like Yes, I will, and quiz items where one event is over before another. All ten homework tasks in By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai check themselves, ending with a lab's goals for 2030 and Harper's answer to a nurse who doubts the headline.
How do you practice the future perfect one-to-one?
Plan the student's next month together: the teacher asks What will you have finished by Friday? and Will you have read it by then?, and the student answers, then asks back. The chat in By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai is done alone: Elias plans a six-week science fair video, and each reply needs the right form.
Are there interactive exercises for the future perfect?
Yes. Visitors with no account can play three parts of the B2 lesson By 2035, what will AI have designed? on edio.ai here. They are Harper's visit to Alton's lab in Seattle, a gap-fill with the future perfect of verbs in brackets and Elias's chat about a project timeline. You need an account for the others.
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