The Future Perfect Tense

The Future Perfect Tense

The form of the future perfect tense is will + have + past participle of the verb. Sometimes, especially in first person, shall is used instead of will.

The future perfect tense is used to indicate a completed action in the future. When we use the future perfect tense, we are projecting ourselves into the future. It is most often used with an expression of time.

Examples
Kelly will have been here for four months on June 25th.
By the time you read this I will have slept.
You will have finished your essay by this time tomorrow.
Won't they have left by 6:00 p.m.?

Uses

1. The Future Perfect indicates that something will happen before another action in the future. It can also show that something will happen before a particular time in the future.

Examples:
By next January, I will have received my promotion.
I am not going to have finished this book by 3 o'clock.
By the time I finish my Bachelor degree, I will have taken ten tests.

Please note that in the examples above, the time reference points in the examples above are in Simple Present rather than Simple Future. This is because you cannot use future tenses in time clauses.

2. We use the Future Perfect to show that something will continue up until another action in the future. This is most often used with non-continuous verbs.

Examples:
I will have been in Paris for nine months by the time I leave.
By Tuesday, Mary is going to have had my book for a month.

Note: The words "live," "teach," "work," and "study" are sometimes used in this way even though they are not Non-Continuous Verbs.

Worksheet

Fill in the blanks in the following sentences by using the appropriate future tense forms of the verbs in brackets.

• The train ............... by the time we reach the station.(arrive)
• This book is not long. I ............... it by lunchtime. (read)
• By 2018, computers ............... many jobs that people do today. (take over)
• I ............... by tests by next week. (complete)
• She ............... before you reach her house. (leave)
• By the end of this month, I ............... here for five years. (work)
• By the end of the year, I ............... $1000. (save)
• By the 30th of this month, I ............... all the books in our local library. (read)

Answers

• The train will have arrived by the time we reach the station.
• This book is not long. I will have read it by lunch time.
• By 2018, computers will have taken over many jobs that people do today.
• I shall have completed by tests by next week.
• She will have left before you reach her house.
• By the end of this month, I will have worked here for five years.
• By the end of the year, I shall have saved $1000.
• By the 30th of this month, I will have read all the books in our local library.