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You will have painted the walls by now.

Have I correctly phrased the sentence above?

It may have two possible answers or explanation:

  1. You certainly have done it recently.
  2. You probably have done it or may did not it yet.
Maulik V
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nima
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  • Others might already be able to answer your question but I need it in context to give you an answer. – fluffy Mar 18 '14 at 13:10

1 Answers1

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You will have painted the walls by now doesn't make sense to me as "will" is in the future and cannot be "now".

A better example of future perfect is:

You will have painted the walls by tomorrow.

It sounds like a threat in that if you don't get it done by tomorrow you might get fired from your job etc.

He will have painted the walls by tomorrow.

"He will" sounds like a prediction by the boss to the customer the job will be completed tomorrow.

Future perfect means it will be completed in the future. Perfect = Complete

American perspective

D_Bester
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  • Does "He will" sounds like a prediction by the boss to the customer" mean probability/likelihood? – nima Mar 18 '14 at 12:27
  • And, does future perfect ,like MUST HAVE P.P. , have two different aspect of definations? – nima Mar 18 '14 at 12:28
  • He will have painted the walls by tomorrow. He must have painted the walls by tomorrow. Do they have two different meaning each one? – nima Mar 18 '14 at 12:29
  • @nima_persian "He will" could be a promise or a prediction which means the boss not only thinks it is likely but is telling the customer to depend on it. – D_Bester Mar 18 '14 at 12:31
  • In my experience "must have painted" is a conjecture about an event in the past. As in: They must have painted the walls last Monday. If you want a command, try this: He must have the walls painted (done) by tomorrow. But this is no longer future perfect tense. – D_Bester Mar 18 '14 at 12:36
  • I tey again what I am going to say: – nima Mar 18 '14 at 12:39
  • "will have painted" here does not refer to a future situation: "The future perfect construction with will (like other constructions with that auxiliary) is sometimes used to refer to a confidently assumed present situation rather than a future situation, as in "He will have woken up by now." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_perfect) – fluffy Mar 18 '14 at 12:53
  • @fluffy "He will have woken up by now." sounds OK although it is not common. It refers to a situation where I don't see him but I think he should be awake by now. But in "You will have painted the walls by now." there is no uncertainty and thus doesn't make any sense to me. To my native American ears, it would leave me confused. – D_Bester Mar 18 '14 at 13:00
  • I agree, it would be unusual but it is possible. It depends on the context: "You started 3 days ago, so you will have painted the walls by now. Today I expect you will be working on the bathroom. I want everything to be ready by the time I get back." – fluffy Mar 18 '14 at 13:04
  • @fluffy If I'm painting the walls I'm either done or I'm not done. Anyone saying to me "You will have the walls done by now" is being completely nonsensical. We don't do time travel. I can't start now and be done by now. Nonsense! – D_Bester Mar 18 '14 at 13:11
  • @fluffy If I'm talking about a third person then it can make sense as I'm making a prediction. He will be awake by now. OK, I don't see him but I am expecting that he is awake. – D_Bester Mar 18 '14 at 13:13
  • Email? Text message? I don't see the person but I am still talking to them and I am free to assume. Again, I am not saying that the perfect form would be my first choice, that is why we need the context, to determine whether the sentence could be correct. – fluffy Mar 18 '14 at 13:15
  • @fluffy Really! If I ever got that I would immediately assume the person is a) weird b) joking c) or not fluent in English – D_Bester Mar 18 '14 at 13:17