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He will have painted the walls by tomorrow.

He must have painted the walls by yesterday.

Does each one have two different connotations?

So, if we have four different likelihood meanings, would you show me with an example?

Adil Ali
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nima
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  • Nima, you still don't format the questions. Also, don't tweak the same question again and again. http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/19333/would-you-explain-your-explanations-in-details – Maulik V Mar 18 '14 at 12:45
  • I am so sorry. As I did not want to confuse you and my self, I had to ask it here. – nima Mar 18 '14 at 12:54
  • would you please answer me? – nima Mar 18 '14 at 12:54
  • What are the two meanings for "must have"? – D_Bester Mar 18 '14 at 13:27
  • In (1) you know that it did not happen. You are stating that there was good reason for it to happen, but something went wrong. It was a possibility, but did not happen.

    In (2) you do not know whether it happened. You are stating that there was good reason for it to happen. It was a possibility, but you do not know what happened.

     – nima Mar 18 '14 at 13:54
  • The main difference is in the 'knowledge'. This is expressed in the other clause or another sentence.

    In both, the "It should have happened" part of the sentence is saying that there was a good reason for 'it' to happen.

     – nima Mar 18 '14 at 13:54
  • In (1), particularly when the subject is a person, you are expressing 'blame' or 'regret'.

    I should have done it, I did not. I am sorry, I regret it. You should have done it, but did not. You are wrong, you are to be blamed. He should have done it, but did not. He is wrong and should be blamed.

     – nima Mar 18 '14 at 13:54
  • In (2) you are expressing 'hope' or 'expectancy'. Usually it is not used in the first person (you know what you have done usually). There are some cases where it is possible, but not many. It only happens when the action depends on someone else's action: "I should have won, but I haven't heard what the judges decided yet." – nima Mar 18 '14 at 13:58
  • Now, would you answer my ORIGINAL QUESTION? – nima Mar 18 '14 at 13:59
  • If you say "he must have" done something, you are seeing evidence that he did do that thing. You come to your home after a trip, the walls have been painted and you can strongly smell the paint. "Ah, he must have painted the walls yesterday." You could say, "I wanted him to paint the walls by yesterday." That would make sense if you are telling your neighbor that you're not quite happy with the painter you hired, he's not working fast enough. As written, your sentences don't quite flow into concepts that make sense. – Jolenealaska Mar 18 '14 at 18:32

1 Answers1

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"Will have" expresses future deduction and "must have" expresses past deduction. Examples:

Bob is going to paint the kitchen on Tuesday. You are arriving on Wednesday. He will have painted the kitchen by the time you get here.

The walls are still wet. He must have painted the kitchen already.

Karen927
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