"WILL" means past?????

Question

Dear native teachers,I was trying to get some info about structures for modals of deduction, speculation or certainty, and I found the following info:« Will and won't / will not + have + past participle are used for past certainty (compare with present use of 'will' above): The parcel will have arrived before now.So, in this context, the "will" structure means... a past action?Is this correct?Thanks in advance for your attention.RENAN

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I was trying to get some info about structures for modals of deduction, speculation or certainty, and I found the following info:

« Will and won't / will not + have + past participle are used for past certainty (compare with present use of 'will' above):

The parcel will have arrived before now.

So, in this context, the "will" structure means... a past action?

Is this correct? Yes. It predicts that the action has already happened, in a context where the action has some result in the present situation.

eg He will have arrived home by now. So, you can call him at his home phone number.

Clive

Renan torres-rivero · Answer

Thanks!

Renan torres-rivero · Answer

CliveYes. It predicts that the action has already happened, in a context where the action has some result in the present situation.
eg He will have arrived home by now. So, you can call him at his home phone number.

Hi, I've been reviewing this topic again, and need more support on the following issue:

All of these modal verbs can also be used to talk about degrees of certainty in the past. Once more, will or won't expresses the most certainty, and might/could or mightn't the least certainty.

			That *will* have been Ted you saw - he's seven feet tall.
			It *won't* have been Sue you saw - she's blonde and is five feet tall.

Here thet are talking about "certainty" not prediction. So, does it mean that:

1) "That will have been Ted you saw" is expressing certainty of a past action?

2) "will" as a modal (not the simple future auxiliary) of certainty can be related to past actions?

We must be careful with this because most EFL students associate "will" with future actions or predictions, not the past.

"WILL" means past?????

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