will have been studying

[ostap77]

"By the time you come, I will have been watching the soccer match for half an hour"

Is it possible to chage "will have been" to a less complex tense form?

 

[bhaisahab]

"By the time you come, I will have been watching the soccer match for half an hour"

Is it possible to change "will have been" to a less complex tense form?

Not if you want it to have the same meaning.

 

[ostap77]

Not if you want it to have the same meaning.

Would an average Joe catch the difference, If I said:

"By the time you come, I'll be watching the soccer match for half an hour"

I do realize that it's icorrect, but I'm just curious;-)?

 

[Koronas]

Your alternative structure makes no sense in English. It "sounds foreign".

However, you could say: "By the time you come, I'll be watching the second half of the match."

 

[ostap77]

Your alternative structure makes no sense in English. It "sounds foreign".

However, you could say: "By the time you come, I'll be watching the second half of the match."

T

Thanks! What do you think? Is there another option instead of using the Future Perfect Tense?

 

[Koronas]

As already stated:

Not if you want it to have the same meaning.

"By the time you come, I'll 've been watching the soccer match for half an hour" is the only structure available.

 

[ostap77]

As already stated:

"By the time you come, I'll 've been watching the soccer match for half an hour" is the only structure available.

I appreciate that one.

 

[birdeen's call]

How about "I'll 've watched"? Is it completely impossible?

 

[Mehrgan]

How about "I'll 've watched"? Is it completely impossible?

I suppose it's possible except that it doesn't emphasise the duration of the action. "I'll've watched" sort of indicates the completion of the action by that time while "I'll've been watching" means the action will continue till the time mentioned.

 

[TheParser]

Would an average Joe catch the difference, If I said:

"By the time you come, I'll be watching the soccer match for half an hour"

I do realize that it's icorrect, but I'm just curious;-)?

NOT A TEACHER

(1) I think that you are correct: Joe Blow would probably not use the

future perfect (I think that few Americans ever use it). He would probably


say: By the time you get here, I will be watching it for 30 minutes.

(2) One American grammar book says:

The future perfect tense has been largely replaced by the simple

future: "He will finish the work by next Saturday" instead of "He will have

finished."

 

[ostap77]

NOT A TEACHER

(1) I think that you are correct: Joe Blow would probably not use the

future perfect (I think that few Americans ever use it). He would probably


say: By the time you get here, I will be watching it for 30 minutes.

(2) One American grammar book says:

The future perfect tense has been largely replaced by the simple

future: "He will finish the work by next Saturday" instead of "He will have


finished."

Would you say like "I'll be watcing it for 30 minutes"? As not part of the teching staff of course.;-)

 

[riquecohen]

As already stated:

"By the time you come, I'll 've been watching the soccer match for half an hour" is the only structure available.

What is this "I´ll´ve?" I hear this all the time, but have never before seen it in writing. Is this now acceptable English?

 

[TheParser]

Would you say like "I'll be watcing it for 30 minutes"? As not part of the teching staff of course.;-)

NOT A TEACHER

(1) I do not know what I would say.

(2) But if I threw in the word "already," it might not sound so "bad":

When you get here, I will already be watching it for 30 minutes.

(3) One book says that people will say all kinds of things in order to avoid

the future perfect.

For example, instead of:

When you get here, I will have already finished dinner,

many people might say:

When you get here, I will already be through with dinner.

 

[bhaisahab]

What is this "I´ll´ve?" I hear this all the time, but have never before seen it in writing. Is this now acceptable English?

It's the first time I've seen it written. I wouldn't accept it as correct.

 

[Mehrgan]

What is this "I´ll´ve?" I hear this all the time, but have never before seen it in writing. Is this now acceptable English?

I suppose it's written that way to show the form of saying is not as hard as the way it's written as the OP wanted to know if there was a simpler way to say it (though grammatically). I've already seen this form of contraction for "I'd've gone..." instead of "I would have gone...". And I thought it's commonly used in fast speech.

 

[Koronas]

It is certainly the way we speak, which is what I was illustrating by writing it that way. However, we would not write it like that unless were were specifically reporting speech and stressing the way that it was spoken.

 

[ostap77]

It is certainly the way we speak, which is what I was illustrating by writing it that way. However, we would not write it like that unless were were specifically reporting speech and stressing the way that it was spoken.

What do you think about the givem in one of TheParser's posts?

"When you get there, I will already be watching it for 30 minutes"

 

[emsr2d2]

What do you think about the givem in one of TheParser's posts?

"When you get there, I will already be watching it for 30 minutes"

Again, I don't know if this might be a BrE vs AmE difference, but in BrE we wouldn't use the future continuous here.

When you get there, I will [already] have been watching it for 30 minutes.
When you get there, it will [already] have been on for 30 minutes.

"When you get there, I'll be watching it for 30 minutes" means, to me, that after you arrive, I will watch 30 minutes of the program/game and then stop watching it.

 

[Koronas]

What do you think about the givem in one of TheParser's posts?

"When you get there, I will already be watching it for 30 minutes"

It's not English. If you said that to me I would think: "he is foreign. What does he mean?"

 

[zahrah2010]

NOT A TEACHER

(1) I think that you are correct: Joe Blow would probably not use the

future perfect (I think that few Americans ever use it). He would probably


say: By the time you get here, I will be watching it for 30 minutes.

(2) One American grammar book says:

The future perfect tense has been largely replaced by the simple

future: "He will finish the work by next Saturday" instead of "He will have

finished."

future perfect tense can not be replaced by the simple future all the time
for example if I say
1-by the time my friend comes, I will have made a cake.
2-by the time my friend comes, I will make a cake.

sentence 1 and 2 are completely different (for me or to me :-?)