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Haddie Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Future perfect tense in second conditional
1A)If I start now I will finish by the evening.
1B)If I started now I would finish by the evening.
2A)If I start now I will have finished by the evening.
2B)If I started now I "would have" finished by the evening?
1A and 1B are the standard 1st and 2nd conditonals.
2A has the future perfect tense instead of the simple future. What would be the 2nd conditional corresponding to 2A? The tense "would have" in 2B makes it sound like a past conditional.
What would be the correct second conditional that uses future perfect tense?
1B)If I started now I would finish by the evening.
2A)If I start now I will have finished by the evening.
2B)If I started now I "would have" finished by the evening?
1A and 1B are the standard 1st and 2nd conditonals.
2A has the future perfect tense instead of the simple future. What would be the 2nd conditional corresponding to 2A? The tense "would have" in 2B makes it sound like a past conditional.
What would be the correct second conditional that uses future perfect tense?
Top answer
I think there is no way to express this using future perfect tense other than (2B), but in practice it is not a common usage. Minor point: Your spacing is wrong around brackets. This is correct spacing: 1A) If I start now I will finish by the evening.
- I think there is no way to express this using future perfect tense other than (2B), but in practice it is not a common usage.
- Minor point: Your spacing is wrong around brackets.
- This is correct spacing: 1A) If I start now I will finish by the evening.
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3 Answers
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I think there is no way to express this using future perfect tense other than (2B), but in practice it is not a common usage.
Minor point: Your spacing is wrong around brackets. This is correct spacing:
1A) If I start now I will finish by the evening.
Minor point: Your spacing is wrong around brackets. This is correct spacing:
1A) If I start now I will finish by the evening.
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By the way, another variant, and a common way of saying this in practice, is "If I started now, I'd be finished by this evening". Note also that "this evening" would commonly be used in preference to "the evening" (assuming you are talking about the same day).
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