Question

Identify the sentence that is in the future perfect tense:

• A. Before he sees his publisher, John will have finished four chapters in his new novel.
• B. How long will it had been since we were together?
• C. A democratic president will be in the White House for nearly half of the twentieth century.
• D. By 2010, I will have been living in Mumbai for 20 years.

Answer 1

The correct option is A Before he sees his publisher, John will have finished four chapters in his new novel.

The tense of a sentence denotes a time, whether it is the time now (present), time then (past) or the time to come (future). The verb of a sentence has most to do with the tense. The Future Perfect Tense is used to describe an action that will be completed at a given point of time in the future, the group of verbs (one or more helping verbs and a main verb) is of the form will have + participle (verb + ed). From the options, Option A is in the future perfect tense, it describes an action "will have finished" that is completed at a given point of time in the future "before he sees his publisher", hence option A is correct. In option B, the tense of the sentence cannot be identified, in "will it had been", 'will' is of the future tense and 'had' is used in the past tense, and so is "were together" which is in the past tense. This sentence is not in the future perfect tense, hence option B is incorrect. In option C, the sentence is in the simple future tense, it has the form will + verb (be), it isn't of the form will have + verb, it does not indicate a completion of an action, hence option C is incorrect. In option D, the sentence is in the future perfect continuous tense, which has the form will have been + present participle (verb + ing). It refers to an action that is still continuing in the future, hence option D is incorrect.