future perfect tense

[Ju]

1. I shall have finished cooking before Tom arrives home.

2. I will finish cooking before Tom arrives home.

3. I shall finish cooking before Tom arrives home
__________________________________________________ __________

I want to practise writing sentences with future perfect tense.

a. Is the above sentence number 1. correct?

b. What are the differences between number 1 and 2 ?

c. What are the differences between number 3 and 2 ?

[5jj]

1. I shall have finished cooking before Tom arrives home.
2. I will finish cooking before Tom arrives home.
3. I shall finish cooking before Tom arrives home
__________________________________________________ __________

a. Is the above sentence number 1. correct? It's grammatically correct.
Only a small number of speakers of BrE use 'shall' with 'I' and 'we' in the so-called future tenses. Most native speakers use 'will' with all persons. 'Will' would be more natural for most speakers here.

b. What are the differences between number 1 and 2 ? #1 stresses the completion of the cooking. However, as the words 'before' and 'finish' make this clear, #2 does the job more simply.

c. What are the differences between number 3 and 2 ? See my answer to your first question.

5

[billmcd]

1. I shall have finished cooking before Tom arrives home.

2. I will finish cooking before Tom arrives home.

3. I shall finish cooking before Tom arrives home
__________________________________________________ __________

I want to practise writing sentences with future perfect tense.

a. Is the above sentence number 1. correct? Yes.

b. What are the differences between number 1 and 2 ? None.

c. What are the differences between number 3 and 2 ? None.

However, as an AmE speaker I would subscribe to this excerpt from the Grammar Girl website:
"In America, will has replaced shall in all but a few cases. If you use shall in the British way during normal conversation, you might end up sounding pretentious or haughty .The most common two places you’ll see shall in America are in legal documents and in lofty prose." But in my own experience, I use and have heard the use of "shall" for first person (I, we) questions as in, "Shall I meet you for lunch?"

[emsr2d2]

The use of "shall" has been put perfectly in the last post. I would rarely use it in the negative or in a statement but I would use it for constructions like "Shall we have lunch?", "Shall I meet you at 2.30?" However, my use in those sentences isn't to suggest "will" in the normal future tense, but would mean something closer to "Do you think it would be a good idea for us to have lunch?" or "How about we meet at 2.30?"

When I shared a flat with an Irish girl, she used "will" where I used "shall" and I found it very unnatural.

[shannico]

When I shared a flat with an Irish girl, she used "will" where I used "shall" and I found it very unnatural.

Will would be perfectly acceptable in Hiberno English in the following context.

e.g. "Will we have lunch tomorrow?"

I've rarely heard Irish-English speakers use "shall" to make offers/suggestions.

[bhaisahab]

Will would be perfectly acceptable in Hiberno English in the following context.

e.g. "Will we have lunch tomorrow?"

I've rarely heard Irish-English speakers use "shall" to make offers/suggestions.

I think this represents an influence of Gaelge (Irish Gaelic) on Hiberno-English.

[shannico]

You are so right!!

Hiberno-English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Slàn (Bye).

p.s. Check under other influences.

[Ju]

5

If I write the sentences like this:

1. I shall have finished cooking at 1pm before Tom arrives home.
2. I will finish cooking at 1pm before Tom arrives home.

Are the above sentences still the same?

Thank you.

[Barb_D]

If I write the sentences like this:

1. I shall have finished cooking at 1pm before Tom arrives home.
2. I will finish cooking at 1pm before Tom arrives home.

Are the above sentences still the same?

Thank you.

1. I don't know when you will finish, but it will be before 1 p.m.
2. You will finish exactly at 1 p.m

In both cases, I don't know what time Tom gets home, but it's after 1 p.m.

[5jj]

1. I shall have finished cooking at 1pm before Tom arrives home.
2. I will finish cooking at 1pm before Tom arrives home.

Note that, though both 'shall' and 'will' are possible, most speakers would use either 'shall' or 'will' in both senetnces.