modals :)

Inchoateknowledge1. We shall not have had nearly enough time. (prediction)
2. I would have thought he would have jumped at the chance. (tentative thought)

Question:
What do these sentences mean to you?

Honestly....gibberish[:^)]

But then, why do grammar books discuss modals from such perspectives?

1. I know that by time X in the future, something is supposed to be finished, but I suspect that when time X arrives, I will not have been allotted enough time to do that task.

I say to my girls: Tomorrow we can go to the pool, but I can't leave home before noon, and we have to be back home by three. They say: We won't have had nearly enough time [at the pool to thoroughly enjoy ourselv

2. I would have thought he would have jumped at the chance. (tentative thought)

1. We shall not have had nearly enough time. (prediction) Does anyone really speak in double persent perfect form like that in real life situation, although it's grammatically correct? I doubted !

Hello Grammar Geek,

Thank you for your continued support of me.
By reason of what you have said the first sentence means, I would simply say, 'We will not have enough time'.
The verb in future perfect tense sounds a bit haughty to me.

For the second story I would say I presupposed Joe buying the ticket.

Best wishes,

Incho

Children are quite good at throwing themselves into that future time and already imagining the distress they will feel when it's time to go home, which makes this construction natural for them. Aside from saying "we won't" instead of "I shall not" it's something they have said, more or less. Funny how in a child, it's natural, while in an adult, it might be haughty.

In American English we would say We will not have had ... or We won't have had ... (instead of shall).
Other than that, both sentences seem quite normal to me as they stand, no matter how haughty the first may seem or how wordy the second may seem. In the case of the second, I thought he would have jumped ... is a good alternative and less of a mouthful!