future perfect tense

A verb tense that expresses action completed by a specified time in the future. The future perfect tense is formed by combining will have or shall have with a past participle. See also:

• Future Progressive
• Future Perfect Progressive

Examples and Observations:

• "We use the future perfect tense when we want to emphasize the 'no-later-than' time of the completion of a future action. Compare the meaning of the following sentences, the first in the future tense, the second in the future perfect tense:
  • Future: We will break for lunch around 12:30.
  • Future perfect: We will have broken for lunch by 12:30.
  The future tense sentence merely states when some future action will take place. The future perfect sentence puts a 'no-later-than' time limit on when the action will have been completed. We could break for lunch at noon or even 11:00, but in any event, we will have broken for lunch no later than 12:30."
  (M. Lester and L. Beason, McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage, 2005)



• "If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."
  (Marcus Aurelius)



• "If [Al Gore] doesn't carry Florida, Slim will have left town."
  (Dan Rather on the 2000 U.S. election)



• "You may win this war, Colonel, but when it is over, you will have lost so many ships, so many lives, that your victory will taste as bitter as defeat."
  (Salome Jens as Shapeshifter in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 1999)



• "No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had you will have lived."
  (Gilda Radner)



• "When the unwelcome little unborn shall have seen the light my brain will be lightened, and I shall have a clearer mind."
  (Julia Ward Howe)