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Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Future Perfect Tense--The last of the "Super Tenses"

The Future Perfect Tense is what I call the last of the "Super Tenses". The other two are the Present Perfect Tense and the Past Perfect Tense.
There are certain conditions that have to be met for the Future Perfect Tense. They are as follows:
1. You must be speaking or writing in the PRESENT TIME.
2. You must be speaking or writing about an event that will be
completed at some time in the future.
3. You must tell in your sentence WHEN the event will be
completed in the future.
4. You must use use TWO helpers (WILL + HAVE)
5. You must use the PAST PARTICIPLE of the main verb.
You have to meet ALL FIVE conditions for the Future Perfect Tense. One of my Chinese students last April asked me why we didn't use words like "next week" or "tomorrow" or "later" and make the future easier to understand. Well, we do, but we also invented the Future Pefect Tense and we just cannot ignore it.
NOW PAY ATTENTION! Here is a sentence using the Future Perfect Tense. CHECK TO SEE IF ALL FIVE CONDITIONS ARE MET.........As of AUGUST 1,2008, I WILL HAVE KNOWN Patricia for FOUR MONTHS........Am I writing in the present? Am I speaking about something that will be completed at some time in the future? Do I tell you when in the future? Do I use two helping verbs? Do I use the past participle of the main verb?.....If your answer is "YES" to all of these questions, then I used the Future Perfect Tense correctly. If your answer is "No" to any one question, then I did it wrong.......Here is another example: Lakale will have been writing on this blog for three years as of this September. (In this case I am using Future Perfect Continuous with the Present Participle "writing".) .....Now try writing some of your OWN Future Perfect sentences......Nothing ventured;nothing gained.

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