I will have (future perfect)

Question

I was recently included in an amusing email thread about the singer Michel Bolton.

When one of the participants admitted to having been at a concert of said singer, another replied with the following:

"You didn't? I will have lost all respect for you if you did

"

My question is about the 'I will have'. Is this grammatically correct in this context? Is it ever grammatically correct? If it is, what tense does it belong to??

Thanks in advance.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

I think it's possible here, but hardly necessary. Future perfect has its uses-- for events or actions for which we need to emphasize duration or completion in the future: 'by the time you read this posting, I will already have gone to work', stressing the completion of my departure before your future reading (since I have not posted it yet in my real time, all is in the future, and my departure is definitely before your reading-- hypothetically, of course).

In your example, however, the losing of respect can hardly come before the knowledge of the fall from grace, so a simpler 'I will lose' seems sufficient to me-- or perhaps we need to be consistent not with real time, but with the tense of the action-- 'I have lost all respect for you if you did'. Hmm. I would like another opinion. . .

MrPedantic · Answer

Hello Guest and Mister M.

I would agree. The conversation presumably went something like this:

A: 'I went to a Michael Bolton concert last night.'
B: 'You didn't! I will have lost all respect for you if you did!'
A: 'It's true, I'm afraid...'

If we break this down, we have:

1. Appalling confession.
2. Rhetorical refusal to believe confession.
3. Rhetorical projection of lost respect.
4. Rhetorical request for retraction [implicit in 'if you did'; the 'if'
gives A a chance to withdraw the confession].
5. Confirmation of confession.
6. Losing of respect.

In other words, B's comment means:

'You didn't! I will have lost all respect for you if [you confirm that] you did!'

But as has been said, this implies that 6 precedes 5.

MrP

MrPedantic · Answer

A 2nd thought. What if:

1. Appalling confession.
2. Rhetorical refusal to believe confession.
3. Loss of respect initialized, but put on hold pending further enquiries.
4. Rhetorical request for confirmation.
5. Confirmation of confession.
6. Confirmation of loss of respect.

In which case the 'loss of respect' is ready to go by (3), and
simply awaiting B's sign-off (6).

So instead of [if X, then Y], we have [if X, then already Y].

I admit this is far-fetched. I just think we should do all we can to
support the non-Michael-Bolton party in this situation.

MrP

CalifJim · Answer

My first impulse was to say something quite similar to your analysis, Mr. P.

I will have lost all respect for you if (/as soon as) you [really] did!

"I will lose ... " may be the more orthodox usage, but "I will have lost ..." seems to emphasize how quickly the respect will be lost, doesn't it? It won't be a matter of finding out, and then losing respect, possibly after some consideration. It will be a matter of finding out, and immediately losing respect completely, an anticipation of such a reaction already having been present partially, i.e., "On the basis of what I've heard so far, I have already begun to lose some respect, but I will have lost all respect if you ..."

My conclusion is that the original sentence makes (future) perfect sense.

MrPedantic · Answer

Yes - a confirmation of a provisional booking, so to speak, where we keep
the original date.

This seems to be a case where odd grammar reflects a genuine
phenomenon: the future rewriting the psychological past.

As CJ says, this use does somehow communicate the
instant ripple-back effect.

MrP

I will have (future perfect)

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions