Will in Before Clause

Question

Could anyone please tell me the difference between the two sentences? What change does adding 'will' make?

[1] It will be years before you master the subject.
[2] It will be years before you will master the subject.

Thanks,

Hiro

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

The difference is that native speakers use #1.

HSS · Answer

That's what I'd known, and [1] had been my only choice. However, I was told you could and do say "It will be years before something will happen" by a native speaker of English. And my belief of the rule shattered. I was actually asking about the two sentences below, wondering if the rule could be broken when the time frame is in the past:

[1] It would be years before Jack's own mother would die.
[2] It would be years before Jack's own mother died.

What they had told her --- we found out later that day --- was that her mother had died. It didn't really registered with us, what that could mean. Death had not yet entered our lives, it would be years before Jack's own mother would die, so he and I sat there in class, and we looked at each other, and that day after school maybe we talked about it a lot and maybe we didn't. But something had changed. ("And you Know you Should Be Glad" by Bob Greene)

Mister Micawber · Answer

I'm sure some native speakers do use 'will' in the dependent clause-- after all, there are 400 million of us-- but it is not so common. You can say it, of course. This use of the present for future is unique to those tenses and the dependent-clause situation. Your next two sentences are a different case:

[1] It would be years before Jack's own mother would die.-- This is called 'future in the past'. It is a past statement, but the death comes later in the past.
[2] It would be years before Jack's own mother died.-- This does not contain that hint of 'past futurity' in the dependent clause.

HSS · Answer

Okay, and thanks, Mister Micawber.

I presume 'after' also allows the latter pattern:

- The police would arrest him years after the accident would happen.

Does this sound idiomatic?

Thanks,

Hiro

Mister Micawber · Answer

No-- now you have placed the accident before the arrest (naturally), so future-in-the-past no longer applies: The police would arrest him after the accident happened.

HSS · Answer

You mean this style can't be used with 'after'?

Will in Before Clause

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