Grammar › Future Perfect

Future Perfect: negative sentences

450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten

Not goes after will, in front of have.

The past participle is the third form in verb tables: written, gone, built. It never changes with the subject.

The pattern

Not sits between will and have, contracting to won’t have:

They will not have arrived. → They won’t have arrived.

Warning that a deadline will be missed

This is what the negative is for:

• The report won’t have been finished by Monday.
• The guests won’t have eaten, so keep something back.

Not yet, not until

Both fit naturally and sharpen the timing:

• She won’t have heard yet.
• The results won’t have been published until Friday.

The negative guess

With by now, the negative assumes something has not happened:

Don’t wait — they won’t have left yet.

Again, nothing here is future: it is a reading of the present.

All forms

Examples

Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.

• The team won't have finished their training before the match.
• The students won't have completed their assignments before class starts.
• The concert won't have started by the time we get there.
• They won't have achieved their goals by the end of the year.
• They won't have submitted the project before the deadline.
• They won't have sold their house before moving to another city.
• The secretary won't have written the invitations by next summer.
• We won't have made all the necessary preparations by the time the guests arrive.
• The students won't have passed their exams before the semester ends.
• I won't have prepared my presentation by the time the meeting starts.
• By this time tomorrow, I won't have bought my new car.
• Next year, they won't have been friends for fifteen years.

Mistakes to avoid

Other forms of Future Perfect