Future perfect?

Question

Hi. I've seen http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=588 recently but cannot understand the last phrase.

I will always love you / or anyway / I will always have loved you now

I stared at the picture a little more:-) and now think it means "loved until this moment" or smth similar.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

He's hedging from his original statement.

"I will always love you" means "now and forever."

So he thinks, "Well, maybe not."

But I will always be able to look back to this moment and say "I loved you then."

(In the future, "now" will be "then."

So, not necessarily "until this moment," but "at this moment."

I will always have loved you on the 23rd of May, 2011.

Andrey Makarov · Answer

Thanks:)

So.. it's not future perfect tense at all, is it?

Avangi · Answer

Andrey MakarovSo.. it's not future perfect tense at all, is it?

On the contrary. It is!
He's talking about all future time, when he will be able to look back and say that he had loved her on this particular day.

Andrey MakarovI will always love you / or anyway / I will always have loved you now.

Today, 5/23/11, I won the US Open. I will always have won the US Open on 5/23/11.

CalifJim · Answer

Andrey MakarovI will always have loved you now

It is an example of the future perfect tense. There's no doubt about that.

As for the meaning, I don't understand it either. It's just quasi-mystical gibberish to me.

CJ

Avangi · Answer

CalifJimIt's just quasi-mystical gibberish to me.

The stuff great art is made of.

Andrey Makarov · Answer

it's hard to understand why this gibberish is quasi-mystical for english speaking people:)

(and why "this question is Not answered". Should i click somewhere or smth..?)

Avangi · Answer

There used to be a routine whereby the original poster could "verify" an answer, but now only "qualified" people can do it.

And we're not allowed to "verify" our own posts! (a wise provision)

You may have noticed that "verified answers" are turned yellow. And they rise to the top of the thread!

Drew.ward · Answer

Andrey MakarovI will always have loved you now.

It is grammatically incorrect. I think the idea is that no matter what would or could have happened in the world, that there is no way for that person not be in love with the other at present (even if things go sour in the future).

There are a couple of things wrong with it:

I will always have loved you now.

"Now" is the first problem. When something is perfected in the future, a future time by which the verb (in this case love) is completed must be given (it can also be inferred through context rather than writing it out). Now is of course not a future time.

The other problem is in perfecting the verb in the future itself. "I will have loved you" says that love is completed as of some point in the future. That form is used to either point out that the loving ends, or to allow the duration of the loving to be measured up to that future point. Neither idea seems logical here.

"Always" is the third problem. It is an implied measure of duration (forever) and really can't be used with "now" and in the word order chosen doesn't seem to make since in the future either. Word order matters with how things are modified within a verb and depending on where "Always' lies, the meaning can change:

I will -> always -> [have -> loved] you

I will -> have -> [always -> loved] you

I always -> [will -> have -> loved] you

I will -> have -> [loved (you) <- always] (you isn't part of the verb)

The arrows represent where one part modifies or subordinates the other.

------------------------------

"I have always loved you" would be a completely correct sentence and says that "as of now" loving of person "you" by person "I" has always been occurring (within the logical context of the conversation).

You can't use a specific time marking with perfected forms in the present because the time by which the verb is completed (or the time up to which the duration of the verb can be measured) is always "now". That said, because that understood time is already "now" and more specifically "as of now" the use of the word "now" in the original would also be incorrect.

CalifJim · Answer

AvangiThe stuff great art is made of.

Ain't it the truth! Smartly done, Avangi! [Y]

CJ

Norwolf · Answer

AvangiHe's hedging from his original statement. "I will always love you" means "now and forever." So he thinks, "Well, maybe not." But I will always be able to look back to this moment and say "I loved you then."(In the future, "now" will be "then." So, not necessarily "until this moment," but "at this moment."I will always have loved you on the 23rd of May, 2011.

Dear Avangi, your interpretation is sure great.

Would please read mine and correct my mistakes, if any?

I learn this:

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 8th edition

will modal verb, verb, noun

5 used for stating what you think is probably true

That'll be the doctor now.

You'll have had dinner already, I suppose.

6 used for stating what is generally true

If it's made of wood it will float.

Engines won't run without lubricants.

© Oxford University Press, 2010

So I would try this:

I will always have loved you now.-------It is true that I have always loved you until this moment.

In other words, it cannot be asserted whether in the future I will love you or not.

Thank you very much.

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