Plain English Part 23

You will have earned your money before you get it.

I shall have worked thirty days when pay-day comes.

Can you not see a difference in saying, _I shall work thirty days when pay-day comes_, and _I shall have worked thirty days when pay-day comes_? The first sentence expresses simple future time, or what you will do when pay-day comes; the second describes an action which will be completed or perfected _before_ pay-day comes. So there is quite a difference in the meaning of the future and the future perfect time.

+128.+ +The future perfect time form expresses or describes an action that will be perfected or completed before some other future time. It is formed by using _shall have_ or _will have_ with the past participle.+

Be careful to use the past participle. Never use the past time form with _shall have_ or _will have_.

+Future Perfect Time+

_Singular_ _Plural_

1st. I shall have seen. We shall have seen.

2d. You will have seen. You will have seen.

3d. He will have seen. They will have seen.

LET US SUM UP

+129.+ We have three time forms, _present_, _past_, _future_.

+Present+ +Past+ +Future+

I see I saw I shall see.

Each of these three time forms has a _perfect_ form; that is, a time form which expresses an action as completed or perfected at the present time, or before some definite past or future time.

+Present+ +Past+ +Future+ +Perfect Time+ +Perfect Time+ +Perfect Time+

I have seen I had seen I shall have seen

+130.+ It is wonderful how a knowledge of words and their uses enables us to express so many shades of meaning. It is like our development in observing colors. You know the savage always admires vivid reds and greens and blues. He does not yet see the beautiful shades and gradations of color. We enjoy the delicate pinks and blues and all the varying shades between the primal seven colors of the spectrum. And as we develop our artistic ability we see and enjoy all the beauties of color.

In music too, we observe the same development. The barbarian enjoys loud, cras.h.i.+ng, discordant sounds which he calls music, but which to the educated ear are only harsh noises. The trained musician catches the delicate overtones and undertones and finds deepest ecstasy in sounds which the uneducated ear does not even catch. So as we study words and their uses, we find ourselves able to express shades of meaning, to paint our word pictures, not in gaudy, glaring chromo-tints, but in the wondrous blending of color that reveals the true artist.

Now get these modes of expressing time firmly fixed in your mind.

+131.+ +Let us get all we have learned about verbs into a summary and have it clearly in mind.+

VERBS--SUMMARY

+Two Cla.s.ses+

_Complete_--Taking _no_ complement.

_Incomplete_--{ Verbs of action requiring object.

{ Copulative verbs requiring complement.

+Inflection--Changes of Form+

_Simple Form_ _S-Form_ _Past Time_ _Present Part._ _Past Part._ see sees saw seeing seen

TIME FORMS

Present

_Singular_ _Plural_

1. I see. We see.

2. You see. You see.

3. He sees. They see.

Past

_Singular_ _Plural_

1. I saw. We saw.

2. You saw. You saw.

3. He saw. They saw.

Future

_Singular_ _Plural_

1. I shall see. We shall see.

2. You will see. You will see.

3. He will see. They will see.

Present Perfect

_Singular_ _Plural_

1. I have seen. We have seen.

2. You have seen. You have seen.

3. He has seen. They have seen.

Past Perfect

_Singular_ _Plural_

1. I had seen. We had seen.

2. You had seen. You had seen.

3. He had seen. They had seen.