If they’re following their schedule, they will have arrived yesterday.
Yesterday? But yesterday is not a part of the future? I'm confused now.
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Sign up to join this communityIf they’re following their schedule, they will have arrived yesterday.
Yesterday? But yesterday is not a part of the future? I'm confused now.
This is a confusing sentence, but I would interpret the "will" here as meaning "must" rather than literally referring to the future. "They must have arrived yesterday."
I doubt anyone can "will" a traffic delay which is inclined to mean intent, deliberate, with a mental control
But a natural consequence, if nothing goes wrong, ought to use "would".
If they’re following their schedule, they would have arrived yesterday.
will here is to be taken in the sense of then it must surely be the case that
Their presence upon arrival is the "result in the present" which concerns the speaker most, triggers the construction with have, even though yesterday would otherwise trigger a simple past tense.
No. No one can arrive yesterday in the future. Will denotes what is in the future. I cannot plan on arriving yesterday. I could have though. I could have arrived yesterday but I cannot arrive yesterday. I can have arrived yesterday.