“By the time…” | Future perfect

Talking about the future can be a difficult task, even for the most advanced speakers especially when you add special phrases to the mix. In this blog, we are going to be talking about the phrase by the time and how we can use it with the future perfect verb tense.

Wait… What is the future perfect?

Great question! The future perfect is used to talk about something that will be completed before a specific time in the future.

Will/won’t have + past participle

I will have finished this book.

He will have arrived.

It will have stopped raining.

We will have met her.

In these examples, the events (arriving, raining) will be completed.

Now, let’s look at a common phrase we can use to compliment the future perfect: by the time. We use this phrase to give a time period in which the action will be completed. For example:

By the time my mom gets home, I will have finished this book.

He will have arrived by the time I get on the train.

By the time she finishes her homework, it will have stopped raining.

We will have met her by the time you get here.

Here is a little quiz you can do to test your knowledge, good luck!

Great work! You should be proud of yourself. By the time you finish this blog, you will be much more knowledgeable about the future perfect.

Thank you for completing this blog, if you have any questions feel free to leave us a comment!

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