Future perfect continuous with the past reference

Question

I came across this dialogue:

A: I don't know anyone who saw the eclipse of the moon last night.
B: I suppose most people will have been watching the Eurovision Song Contest on TV when it happened.

I don't understand why the future perfect continuous (will have been watching) is used to explain something happened in the past. Please tell me that this is a valid example and I am just missing something here. :)

I know that the future perfect or future perfect continuous can be used to tell something about the present. There are many examples I have seen. But I have not found anything how it can be used to tell something about the past event. Like in my example above.

Does this answer your question? "No chance of finding him sober now; he will have been drinking all day." — Kate Bunting, Feb 24 '24 at 09:45
Of course there is - the eclipse was 'last night' and B speculates on what many people were probably doing at the time. — Kate Bunting, Feb 24 '24 at 19:45
It's not an example, it's a link to an earlier question on the same topic. The speaker supposes that the person in question has been drinking all day. — Kate Bunting, Feb 25 '24 at 08:42
Sorry I don't get how the link you posted is similar to my example which is about a finished event in the past. And I have never seen such use before. Otherwise would have never asked. — Taras, Feb 25 '24 at 18:51
It makes no difference whether the event had a definite finish time or not. Most people were probably watching TV at the time of the eclipse. The alcoholic was probably drinking all day. — Kate Bunting, Feb 26 '24 at 09:35
I have never had any problems understanding "Most people were probably watching TV at the time of the eclipse". But I sure was puzzled by the "Most people will have been watching TV at the time of the eclipse" use for a long time before asking. Do you think this question is just a particular case of the question you referenced and we should remove mine? — Taras, Feb 26 '24 at 14:06
Yes, that's why I flagged it as a duplicate. As the answer says "One of [the functions of 'will'] is to express likelihood". — Kate Bunting, Feb 26 '24 at 15:30
If some more people vote to close it as a duplicate it will be removed. — Kate Bunting, Feb 26 '24 at 15:37

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 24 '24 at 18:43

B: I suppose most people will have been watching the Eurovision Song Contest on TV when it happened. [used but not standard]

I suppose they will be eating dinner now.

I suppose they will have been eating dinner since 8 pm. [spoken in the present]

Bear in mind: in speech, yours is fine. In writing, I'd do this:

B: Most people would have been watching the Eurovision Song Contest on TV when it happened. [standard, in writing] because the meaning is past tense.

Compare:

He says he will be working tonight when the cops arrive.
He says he would have been working tonight when the cops arrived.

Future perfect continuous with the past reference

1 Answers1