Will Have Been Doing

They don't make sense to me, because they seem over-elaborate. However, the use of the future perfect (something occurring before another future event), is not necessarily wrong:

If we don't hurry up the store will have been closing before we get there.

Makes more sense as:

If we don't hurry up the store will have closed before we get there.

The use of the future perfect does make sense, in that an event will occur (the store closing) before another event occurs (our arrival there).

They will have been having a holiday yesterday.

Would be better expressed as:

They will have had a holiday yesterday.

That might be the future perfect, depending upon the context, depending upon what came before that sentence.

He would have been programming since 11pm.

This sentence uses the conditional perfect.

I think it would be very helpful in helping you understand, Robert, if first you tell us why you think this is a problem.

Thank you for explaining , Setanta.

No problem, i hope that helps.

I wish I could dwell on it for you, JTT. But I'm not au fait with this kind of tense, so explaining it in English would be a thankless undertaking for me. I'm so sorry. I just opine that will have been doing refers to future events; it would be decidedly folly to use it to talk about past events. Maybe I'm wrong about this. Actually, I found the above-mentioned sentences on a website days ago; the sentences are written by a doyen or an educator claiming he is one of the worthies in this field. His first language is not English too, for your information. Anyway, thank you for replying this post.

You are mistaken about 'will' not being able to be used in discussions about past events, Robert. You've likely been told that 'will' is the future tense of English and 'would' is its past tense. That is false. It is also false that 'may' is present tense, 'might' its past tense; the same for 'shall' and 'should'; 'can' and 'could'.

Modal verbs in English are tenseless. Both "I will go to New Orleans" and "I would go to New Orleans" can describe a future.

Because 'will' does have a strong connection to the future, it isn't often used in past situations but it can be.

That train will have already left.

The bus will have already reached Los Angeles by now.

Brian will have completed the race by now.

What 'will' says in these examples is that the speaker is very certain about some event. The past is described by 'have + the past participle.

I have heard of such phrases, I mean the phrases related to this tense, namely will have done . I know it can be used to talk about past events. But how about will have been doing? Take this sentence" They will have been having a holiday yesterday " for instance, could you tell me what does this sentence mean or why would the author use this tense- will have been doing- to talk about past events? Sorry for talking like an ignoramus. I just can't figure it out.

By the by, someone told me that the third sentence"What would John have been working on after 11pm last Thu evening? B: He would have been programming since 11pm " is a conditional sentence. Is that true? I should have spent more time learning grammar. Thank you again.

More of the surrounding context would really help, as it always does, Robert.

A: What were they doing yesterday?

B1: Well, like everyone else, they would have been having a holiday [yesterday].

B2: Well, like everyone else, they will have been having a holiday [yesterday].

The meaning in B1 and B2 are the same.



No, it is not a conditional sentence. Because 'would' is used more in conditional examples it generally holds a more tentative meaning than 'will'. Both mean the speaker is very sure of their idea.

A: What would John have been working on after 11pm last Thu evening?

B: Let me check the logs, ... let me see, yes, he would have been programming then [since 11pm] "

B1: Let me check the logs, ... let me see, yes, he was programming then [since 11pm] "

You were also told that these were examples of future perfect. That is not necessarily true.

Got it. Ta, JTT.