1

Please consider the following sentences:

  1. It is an act which will make the audience think that I (have/will have) used too much time.
  2. The man never wants to buy her the ring, which will leave the impression that he (has/will have) bought her with it.

My question is: do we need to use "will" there just because they haven't happened? Or should we not use "will" because they are viewed from the particular future points in time?

Improve this question
4
  • Your second sentence doesn't seem to make sense.
    – marcellothearcane
    Commented Sep 21, 2019 at 12:47
  • @marcellothearcane the ring will leave such an impression. It's a non-essential adjective clause.
    – Fadli Sheikh
    Commented Sep 21, 2019 at 13:20
  • Will just sounds wrong in both places. If you're looking for a conditional use would instead.
    – David M
    Commented Sep 23, 2019 at 12:24
  • The problem with sentences that you have made up yourself- and especially with complex sentences like these- is that it's not clear what you are trying to say. If we don't know what you are trying to say, we can't comment on the correct way to say it. Maybe you could choose a passage from a book as a basis for your sentence and then quote the passage from the book together with your made-up sentence.
    – JavaLatte
    Commented Mar 26, 2020 at 8:55

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

They mean different things.

If you use "will have" in those clauses, it means that the action of you using too much time and the action of buying her with it completes between now and then, meaning those actions have not yet happened or are not yet complete at the point in time the speaker is saying it but will happen or complete by the time that future time arrives, like at the future time when the audience thinks.

If you use "have"/"has" in those clauses, it means the action is presently in the past. You're forecasting future events flowing from an action that is already complete in the present.

Improve this answer
1
  • So, if I want to say that the audience will think so if I do the act, or the impression will come into existence if I buy her the ring, I should use "will have", right?
    – Fadli Sheikh
    Commented Sep 19, 2019 at 6:48

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .