Please have read

[curmudgeon]

I'll go with Tdol on this one. Please have read up to chapter 2 by Monday

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

But why not present tense?

Please read it by Monday.

Simpler and it says the same thing.

OK, but we can always have alternatives, can't we? It could be used to make it more of a plea than an order- think of the rougher sort of pupils teachers have to deal with today. I also think it could just be used as an alternative- it doesn't strike me as that odd.

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by curmudgeon

I'll go with Tdol on this one.

Wooo! Where did I go right?

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by Tdol

OK, but we can always have alternatives, can't we? It could be used to make it more of a plea than an order- think of the rougher sort of pupils teachers have to deal with today. I also think it could just be used as an alternative- it doesn't strike me as that odd.

Of course. I was just curious about a circumstance that calls for that construction. Does it seem more polite to you? I have no feel for it because I don't use it.

[Tdol]

Not necessarily more polite, but more pleading, more tentative.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by Tdol

Not necessarily more polite, but more pleading, more tentative.

OK. It seems related to the future perfect for the past that crops up in BrE.

[Tdol]

I think you're onto something there.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by Tdol

I think you're onto something there.

Two more for the book.

[MrPedantic]

But then, without the "please":

1. Go upstairs and tidy your room!
2. *Have gone upstairs and tidied your room!

?

MrP

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by MrPedantic

But then, without the "please":

1. Go upstairs and tidy your room!
2. *Have gone upstairs and tidied your room!

?

MrP

Hmmm. Another twist. The plot thickens.