Saturday, November 28, 2009

Future perfect

I came across this sentence and thought it was a good example of future perfect (will have) tense:


By the time I get back, I hope you will have forgiven me.

That is, in some time of the future, the action will have already happened in the past of that future (but still the future of now).

It's sort of like time travel, only without the nausea. :)

Alicia

4 comments:

Asea said...

Exactly! Future perfect is used when there are two verbs, both set in the future, and it is important for us to know which happens first. The future perfect verb is finished (perfected!) and then the future simple verb happens. :-) I always annoy my students by drawing little timelines on the board and making them tell me which action happened first. But then they remember!

Anonymous said...

By the time you read this comment, I hope I will have had a nap. :)

Leona said...

I think I deserve college credit for reading this blog! LOL I have learned more on here than most other classes I've taken. Plus, I have the added benefit of being able to go back and read the blogs!!

Jami Gold said...

Leona,

I know exactly what you mean. :) I feel like I should be able to put a sentence into the bio paragraph of my query letter: "Trust me, I know what I'm doing because I'm an avid follower of the edittorrent blog." LOL! (Note: Don't worry, Theresa and Alicia, I wouldn't actually do that. :) )

Jami G.