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  1. By the end of this month, you would have already worked fifty hours.
  2. If I had known it earlier, I would have helped you.

It looks like: the first would is "future from now" and second would is "future from past".

the same form of "would have pp" starts from a different time standard.

I had thought the first 'would' would be used as a different form like: "will have pp" for the future perfect from now.

1 Answer 1

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#1 is incorrect. Would is an incorrect helping verb. It should be written in the future perfect tense as such:
By the end of this month, you will have worked fifty hours.

#2 is not written in any perfect tense. It is written in the subjunctive mood because it is a "supposition."

::addendum:: I don't think that is past perfect. All the perfect verb tenses specify time spans during which the verb happens. Here is the sentence:
If I had known it earlier, I would have helped you.

The verb is "to know", and so what is the time span for "to know"? A timeline would show that in the middle is "now", to the right is the future and to the left is the past. So, to the left, in the past, is "the person becomes knowing (and continues to know)", which means the verb tense could be simple past or present perfect.

All that I hear is a single point in time in the past, the simple past verb tense, written as a supposition which puts the verb in the subjunctive mood. I don't sense any time span during which the subject knew something (other than present perfect), hence no past perfect tense. Anyway, that's as best I can explain how I see it.

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  • It's correct: owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/verb_tenses/… . and it's a subjunctive mood for the past perfect (if had pp, s would/could/should have pp): had pp is a past perfect
    – gomadeng
    Jan 25, 2021 at 7:16
  • Under the link you provide, I can only find You will have worked fifty hours by the end of this pay period. Would would only be appropriate if the statement followed an if clause. Jan 25, 2021 at 9:05
  • The link above: 2. Future Perfect: “You will have worked fifty hours by the end of this pay period.” By the end of this pay period, you would have already worked fifty hours. However, as of right now, this situation is in the future. The implication here is that you could work more hours.
    – gomadeng
    Jan 25, 2021 at 18:26

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