- Have you already finished your essay? - No, I will ___ it by this Thursday

Question

In an online placement test that is, frankly, not the best of the best, this sentence is provided with a gap to be filled:

Have you already finished your essay? - No, I will ___ it by this Thursday

The correct answer is, obviously, "have finished", but I wonder: Why is "finish" (just Future Simple) listed as incorrect?

Both "have finished" and "finish" are correct. In addition, using "already" in the question is unnecessary and a bit unusual: it's the sort of thing that a a German would say. Where did you see this question? — JavaLatte, Feb 07 '21 at 11:54
Not the best of the best? It's obviously *total garbage!* Ignore it! — FumbleFingers, Feb 07 '21 at 12:03
@JavaLatte In an awful test. I'd say this as "Have you finished your essay (yet)?" -- "No, I'll do it by X". Apparently, it was made by a poorly-educated Russian. — R.I.P.30.12.21Baskakov_Dmitriy, Feb 07 '21 at 12:18

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 07 '21 at 13:27

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As JavaLatte wrote in comments either have finished or finish is fine here. As you also mentioned in a comment the question would sound more natural as Have you finished your essay yet? And I will do it by Thursday would be an equally good response.

answered Feb 07 '21 at 13:27

mdewey

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 07 '21 at 13:42

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Both finish and have finished are fine, but notice that the meaning is slightly different.

A comment was made about already being redundant. This is not true. Already is not redundant.

answered Feb 07 '21 at 13:42

Patriot

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- Have you already finished your essay? - No, I will ___ it by this Thursday

2 Answers2