Past In Future

[gdonuts]

what form of the verb be is to be used here


You will be in and out so fast noone will know you ____there

 

[jamiep]

"were"


I you think about a point already in the past the simple past for the 3rd person is used. That is what you need to use here.

 

[gdonuts]

but the thing is i havent done it yet im not there now and never was i will be in the future before they..don't know it !!!

 

[RedMtl]

what form of the verb be is to be used here


You will be in and out so fast noone will know you ____there

"You will be in and out so fast that no one will know you were there."

OR

"You will be in and out so fast that no one will know you have been there."

Either is perfectly acceptable.

 

[gdonuts]

"You will be in and out so fast that no one will know you were there."

but whats the reason for this seeing as it is in the future...do we take time from the point of view of the subject......help!!!

 

[gdonuts]

ok...dude pls tell me this ...let me try a different sentence .....You will kill him tomorrow but will only confess that you___tomorrow evening

 

[riverkid]

but whats the reason for this seeing as it is in the future...do we take time from the point of view of the subject......help!!!

But in that future, a finished action is described; "you" are described as being in and out quickly; it then stands to reason that if you go in and out quickly, you can't be there, so it has to be a collocation denoting a finished action, which, as RedMtl said, can be either 'were' or 'have been'.

Plus, it's an idiom that uses exaggeration for emphasis. It's not possible to go in and out so fast that anyone "there" would miss the fact that you came and went, but that's part of the idiom.

 

[riverkid]

ok...dude pls tell me this ...let me try a different sentence .....You will kill him tomorrow but will only confess that you___tomorrow evening

This is the same as your original, Gdonuts.

You will kill him tomorrow but will only confess that you did tomorrow evening.

You will kill him tomorrow [at 10 am] but [you] will only confess that you did [kill him at 10 am in the morning] tomorrow evening.

 

[gdonuts]

thanks i thought as much....it sounded right but i guess being in a non english speaking country coupled with the fact that i have ocd has made me a bit of a paranoiac in this regard....lol
thanks anyway i guess it makes sense

 

[gdonuts]

I think the usage varies in this sentence as in reporting a present incicidet in the past...ie..he said he was good.....he still is good....also as he said he is good........commonly accepted.....it can be do or did..thoughts????

 

[gdonuts]

?

 

[Mister Micawber]

.
No, continuing condition. The goodness (if it exists now) is or was-- and reported speech has the option of past or present in such a situation.

The killing and in-an-outing of your previous sentences, meanwhile, are point events, with no duration relative to the time of the matrix statement-- they cannot extend into the 'futuremost' position from which they are viewed. And they aren't reported speech anyway.
.

 

[gdonuts]

then will not tommorrow morning change to in the morning..i kind of knew that and was searching for some kind of a rule to follow....

 

[Mister Micawber]

.
Nope-- it's not reported speech. Tomorrow morning is still tomorrow morning.
.

 

[gdonuts]

Is this sentence rite... I will go there tomorrow evening but they will think
I went (tomorrow morning/in the morning)

 

[gdonuts]

could someone help me out with this