Go Back   UsingEnglish.com ESL Forum > Learning English > Ask a Teacher


Like Tree1Likes
  • 1 Post By naomimalan

Closed Thread
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 21-Oct-2008, 13:30
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 154
Member Type: Student or Learner
Default Future perfect tense VS future tense

We will have used half of all the recoverable oil that ever existed on our planet

I serached some guides about the future perfect tense and According to the sources, future perfect means the action is completed and finished at a time in the future. So, "will have used" means all of these oil will already be gone, without leaving a drop.(Please correct if I am wrong)

But Problems arise once making a tense comparison. I get confuesd when comparing it with future tense in the following sentence:

The train will have left before we reach the station.
The train will leave before we reach the station.

The first sentence means the train's departure will already finish before we are at the station, but I can't tell the future tense from future perfect tense here. Please help~
  #2  
Old 21-Oct-2008, 14:26
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 484
Member Type: English Teacher
Default Re: Future perfect tense VS future tense

Quote:
Originally Posted by redgiant View Post
We will have used half of all the recoverable oil that ever existed on our planet

I serached some guides about the future perfect tense and According to the sources, future perfect means the action is completed and finished at a time in the future. So, "will have used" means all of these oil will already be gone, without leaving a drop.(Please correct if I am wrong)

But Problems arise once making a tense comparison. I get confuesd when comparing it with future tense in the following sentence:

The train will have left before we reach the station.
The train will leave before we reach the station.

The first sentence means the train's departure will already finish before we are at the station, but I can't tell the future tense from future perfect tense here. Please help~
So, "will have used" means all of these oil will already be gone, without leaving a drop.(Please correct if I am wrong)
Actually it means that half the recoverable oil will have been used up but half will be left. (NB "oil" is uncountable so you can't say "these", you'd have to say "this".)

As for the train sentences, they both mean the same thing but the first one sounds better. Maybe with some verbs (other than "leave") the choice would make a difference but I can't think of one offhand. Maybe you can?
Closed Thread

Bookmarks


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Confusion over past perfect tense - (English as a second language users) venkatasu Ask a Teacher 1 09-May-2008 12:18
Why was the future perfect used instead of the simple future tense? sabyakgp Ask a Teacher 8 10-Oct-2007 20:23
future perfect tense yuftos Ask a Teacher 1 19-Nov-2006 20:24
present future valtango General Language Discussions 6 13-Nov-2003 20:17
Do we have future tense? shun Teaching English 1 07-Oct-2003 17:06


All times are GMT. The time now is 12:34.



Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO ©2011, Crawlability, Inc.