Question

How does one use the future perfect tense and the future-in-the-past perfect tense?

Answer 1

Hint: Future in the past perfect tense, is an absolute-relative tense in which 3 points of time are involved. These three points are a ‘time that is in the future’ which is ‘relative to a point in the past’, but it is in the ‘past, relative to a point in its future.’ (Points refer to ‘points in time’).

Complete answer:
The ‘future perfect tense’ is the tense which combines the future and the past forms of verbs. It takes a reference point in the future and talks about an event in its past (but it is still our future).

For example, By the next year, I will have completed my college. In this sentence, we have taken the next year as the reference and we say that we will complete our college before that reference point.
Just like we took a specific time ‘next year’ as the reference point, we can also take an action in the future as the reference point.

For example, Before you arrive, we will be done with the work. In this sentence arrive, which is an action, is taken as the reference of time in future.

A complete opposite of this tense, is the ‘future in the past’ perfect tense. In this tense, we talk about an act that has already been done or was supposed to be done in the past, but in the future of a given reference point.

For example, Even before the game started, I knew I was going to win. In this sentence, the starting of the game is the reference point and the winning of the person is in its future (but in the past of when this sentence is being said).


Note: i) Thus, the basic structure for using the future perfect tense can be written as [Subject + will have + past participle]. The past participle is the simple past tense for regular verbs and it is the third form of the verb if it is irregular.
- I will have completed college. (regular) [1st – complete, 2nd – completed]
- I will have eaten by then. (irregular) [ 1st – eat, 2nd – ate, 3rd – eaten]

ii) Thus, the basic structure for using future in the past-perfect tense can be written as [Subject + was/were going to + base verb].