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You will have painted the walls by now.

Have I correctly phrased the sentence above?

It may have two possible answers or explanation:

  1. You certainly have done it recently.
  2. You probably have done it or may did not it yet.
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  • Others might already be able to answer your question but I need it in context to give you an answer.
    – fluffy
    Mar 18, 2014 at 13:10

1 Answer 1

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You will have painted the walls by now doesn't make sense to me as "will" is in the future and cannot be "now".

A better example of future perfect is:

You will have painted the walls by tomorrow.

It sounds like a threat in that if you don't get it done by tomorrow you might get fired from your job etc.

He will have painted the walls by tomorrow.

"He will" sounds like a prediction by the boss to the customer the job will be completed tomorrow.

Future perfect means it will be completed in the future. Perfect = Complete

American perspective

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  • Does "He will" sounds like a prediction by the boss to the customer" mean probability/likelihood?
    – nima
    Mar 18, 2014 at 12:27
  • And, does future perfect ,like MUST HAVE P.P. , have two different aspect of definations?
    – nima
    Mar 18, 2014 at 12:28
  • He will have painted the walls by tomorrow. He must have painted the walls by tomorrow. Do they have two different meaning each one?
    – nima
    Mar 18, 2014 at 12:29
  • @nima_persian "He will" could be a promise or a prediction which means the boss not only thinks it is likely but is telling the customer to depend on it.
    – D_Bester
    Mar 18, 2014 at 12:31
  • In my experience "must have painted" is a conjecture about an event in the past. As in: They must have painted the walls last Monday. If you want a command, try this: He must have the walls painted (done) by tomorrow. But this is no longer future perfect tense.
    – D_Bester
    Mar 18, 2014 at 12:36

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