future perfect/future perfect continuous

Question

Hi, in the second sentence are used both FP and FPcont. in the same meaning. I think I cann´t say "will have been being in England" - is that right? But I can use it in passive form "The house will have been being finished for over ten months by the time ..." Am I right?

"I came to England six months ago. I started my economics course three months ago. When I return to Australia, I will have been studying for nine months and I will have been in England for exactly one year."

Thank you.

Aperisic · Accepted Answer

Emily__
Hi, in the second sentence are used both FP and FPcont. in the same meaning. I think I cann´t say "will have been being in England" - is that right? But I can use it in passive form "The house will have been being finished for over ten months by the time ..." Am I right?

"I came to England six months ago. I started my economics course three months ago. When I return to Australia, I will have been studying for nine months and I will have been in England for exactly one year."

Thank you.

You cannot easily say The house will have been being finished because to finish is a short moment not a longer action.

The house will have been finished

At least you can't if you mean that a house will be finally finished, not in a looooong process of finishing.

I will have been flying for exactly 4 hours before the plane appears over Greenland.
I will have flown for 10 hours before I reach Seattle.
I will have been working for exactly 4 years by March next year.
I will have been being kissed for hours, before she comes to her sense. That is how much she misses me, I think. (very rare)

I will have been studying

CalifJim · Answer

Your sentences are fine. will have been studying and will have been are fine.

You're right about will have been being in England, but the reason has nothing to do with passive voice. be, in its locational sense, is a non-progressive verb, like know. This restriction to non-progressive tenses applies in all tenses.

We don't say I am knowing. We say I know. Therefore, we don't say I will have been knowing either. We say I will have known.

Same pattern: We don't say I am being in England. We say I am in England. Therefore, we don't say I will have been being in England. We say I will have been in England.

The difficulty in seeing that these two (know, be) are the same set of patterns is that be itself is used as an auxiliary verb in the pattern, so when be is also the main verb, some confusion may result in trying to disentangle the two uses of be in the same verb phrase.

There is no problem using the progressive with other verbs: We will have been taking annual trips to England for 20 years this coming May.

Your example with the passive is fine as well, but, as you probably already know quite well, this usage is very rare. The house will have been being [finished / repaired / built / painted / torn down] ...

CJ

Emily__ · Answer

Thanks. As to non-progressive verbs, I understand now. But I have still doubt about these sentences:

FP(C): cause of something in the future:

He will be tired when he gets home because he will have been jogging for over an hour.

By the time we get to Chicago this evening, we will have driven more than four hundred miles. We will be exhausted.

Another one:

Margie just called and said she would be here at 8 o´clock. By the time she gets here, we will have been waiting for her for two hours.

I can´t find the reason why there is not FPC in the second sentence. Similarly I don´t see the difference in Aperisic´s sentences 1 and 2:

I will have been flying for exactly 4 hours before the plane appears over Greenland.

I will have flown for 10 hours before I reach Seattle.

Maybe I omited something. Thanks for your advice.

Marius Hancu · Answer

Emily__Similarly I don´t see the difference in Aperisic´s sentences 1 and 2:
I will have been flying for exactly 4 hours before the plane appears over Greenland.
I will have flown for 10 hours before I reach Seattle.

Then, sorry to say, you still don't know what a continuous tense is, because this is the main difference between them: the first one uses the continuous, the 2nd one doesn't.

Marius Hancu · Answer

Emily__But I have still doubt about these sentences:
FP(C): cause of something in the future:

He will be tired when he gets home because he will have been jogging for over an hour.

Do you understand: By the time he gets home, he has been jogging for over an hour, and this is why he is tired. (simplified and put into present tenses, just for you to understand better)?

If not, you should get back and study the present and the present perfect continuous again first, sorry.

If you do understand that, just translate the meaning into the future.

By the time we get to Chicago this evening, we will have driven more than four hundred miles. Similar interpretation.

They are both correct.

Aperisic · Answer

Similarly I don´t see the difference in Aperisic´s sentences 1 and 2:

I will have been flying for exactly 4 hours before the plane appears over Greenland.
I will have flown for 10 hours before I reach Seattle.

I will have been flying for exactly 4 hours before the plane appears over Greenland.
after 4 hours of flying in a plane you are over Greenland but still in a plane and still flying, i.e.
I will have been flying for exactly 4 hours at the moment when the plane appears over Greenland.

I will have flown for 10 hours before I reach Seattle.
after 10 hours of flying you finish your flight and land in Seattle

You could say I will be flying for exactly 4 hours before the plane appears over Greenland but that is not as good and precise as I will have been flying for exactly 4 hours because with will have been flying you want to say both:

the period of 4 hours will end
I will be still flying, the flight won't be finished

Maple · Answer

Now, I think the potential bewildering factor is when FPC tense applies to emphasize the cause and effect, the action (in FPC tense) could have already ceased by the particular time given.

Aperisic · Answer

Maple

Now, I think the potential bewildering factor is when FPC tense applies to emphasize the cause and effect, the action (in FPC tense) could have already ceased by the particular time given.

Yes, in that case the break is

temporary

not relevant to the final action

unknown

the duration is more important than the final effect

only possible but unsure

obscure, the action has ended but it is as it hasn't

unwanted

...

which would be all highly stylistic usages that are not recommended for a beginner as long as he or she is not clear with all tenses.

For someone who wants to learn future perfect continuous this is maybe a good starter:

The future perfect continuous is referring to the action in the future that was temporarily terminated (either really temporarily terminated or only observed, imagined as being temporarily terminated) in order to observe the current result or to make an observation about another action that happens at the moment of the imagined future temporary termination. It usually suggests that action does not really, even temporarily, stop at that particular moment in the future. We will have been eating at least for 20 minutes before he arrives.

The future perfect says that action truly ends in the future and we are observing only the result or the period and events after it ends. We will have finished our dinner when/before he arrives.

The future continuous says about the future action that is going to be happening together with another future action. This future continuous action is a sort of background for the second real action. We will be eating when he arrives.

The story:

We decide to go to restaurant. One of our friends should come as well. He calls and says that he is going to be late and to freely start the dinner without him - he'll catch up. So, we are sure that we will be eating when he arrives. We are at the table; the dinner is just about to start. The friend calls again and says that he expects to be 20 minutes late for the dinner. One of us is very disappointed and comments that it is so strange that we will have been eating for full 20 minutes before he arrives. How to include someone in the dinner after 20 minutes? The friend calls again and says that he expects to be one hour late. We all conclude that we will have finished our dinner when/before he arrives.

Anonymous · Answer

Oh, This is complex isn't it? I'm reallt lost when the teacher gives us sentences and ask tu work with future perfect or future perfect continuous

Anonymous · Answer

the right and easy explanation

future perfect/future perfect continuous

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