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Here a user TRomano gave me advice to ask this question that I don't understand.

I can come back later, off to work now. But why not ask a separate question about "shall have had to" and "should have had to" and I'm sure others will answer.

What do "Shall have had to" and "Should have had to" mean?

  • We should have had to work diligently.
  • We shall have had to work diligently.
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  • @mike You gotta be kidding?
    – SovereignSun
    Dec 1, 2016 at 13:31
  • apologies - I misread the question as being a duplicate.
    – mike
    Dec 1, 2016 at 13:34

1 Answer 1

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Since no answers have been forthcoming, perhaps these examples will show you the meaning.

I decided not to compete for a place on England's Olympic swimming team. Had I done so, I should have had to work diligently on my freestyle stroke.

If we manage to win this contract, we shall have had to work very diligently to convince the customer of the merits of our product.

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  • So the first is like: If i were to compete i would need to work diligently. And second is the same but in the Present tense.
    – SovereignSun
    Dec 2, 2016 at 15:34
  • The first is "if I had decided to compete". It refers to an action in the past that did not take place. So, if I were to have competed.... And the second is forward-looking (if we manage to win), and projects the point of view into the future looking back upon the hard work that will have been necessary.
    – TimR
    Dec 2, 2016 at 20:16
  • Okay, now I guess i understand, i think I do.
    – SovereignSun
    Dec 2, 2016 at 20:35

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