Will have it done VS. Will have done it

Question

I'll have my mortgage paid off in 8 monthsShould it be regarded as:- a case of Future Perfect (or, if generalized, of Perfect Tenses) with a kind of inverted word order,or rather- a special (even peculiar) case of the Passive have sth done construction;or- a blending of both;or- a special inverted construction occasionally resembling Perfect Tenses?Need a grammarian's opinion to refer to in an argument with a very 'persistent' person.Thanks in advance,YETYPS How does the meaning change if:I'll have paid off my mortgage in 8 months?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

The choice is between usage: "Have" as a causative (main) verb in a passive construction and have as an auxiliary verb. Here are my thoughts on it.

1a) I'll have my hair cut and styled tomorrow.  (causative - passive)
1b) I'll have my hairdresser cut and style my hair tomorrow. (causative - active)

Visually, the following sentence is similar to ( 1a) above.

2a) I'll have my mortgage paid off in eight months.

The difference is that in ( 2) there is no implied agent as there is in ( 1). The non-finite clause "paid off in eight months" is stative, describing the (future) state of the mortgage. There is no equivalent ( b) that can be devised. It could also be considered an object complement. It is necessary because you cannot remove it from the sentence.

However, an equivalent future perfect sentence can be written.

In eight months, I'll have paid off my mortgage.

Will have it done VS. Will have done it

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