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English grammar question.

jova33

jova33

Android Expert
Last night my wife wanted to watch a movie, and I said "By the time we went to bed, it will be 2:30."
My wife tried to say that's improper grammar, so I looked it up and its called a future perfect. Putting a past tense in a future statement. She still argues that it's improper, and I can't find anything to confirm that it's improper.
"It will be 2:30 by the time we went to bed."
Can anyone tell me, for sure, if I'm right or wrong?
 
How about "By the time we went to bed, it would be 2:30."

I must admit, I'm not overly fussed about grammar. :D
 
Sorry to say, but I agree with your wife.

"By the time we go to bed, it will be 2:30."
"It would be 2:30 by the time we went to bed."
"It will be 2:30 by the time we go to bed."
"It will be 2:30 by the time we get to bed."
not
"It will be 2:30 by the time we went to bed."
 
although your sentence is grammar correct.
but i think she is right .. in this situation.

went is past tense.. and you are talking about the future... so
I agree with the post above.. "GO" should be used.

It would be 2:30 by the time we go to bed.
 
jova33 said:
Last night my wife wanted to watch a movie, and I said "By the time we went to bed, it will be 2:30."
My wife tried to say that's improper grammar, so I looked it up and its called a future perfect. Putting a past tense in a future statement. She still argues that it's improper, and I can't find anything to confirm that it's improper.
"It will be 2:30 by the time we went to bed."
Can anyone tell me, for sure, if I'm right or wrong?
Click to expand...

No matter how you word it or say it.

The wife is always gonna be right no matter how wrong she is.

End of story lol.

Sent From My HTC Evo 3D Using TapaTalk 2
 
In the link I posted it shows having a past tense verb in a future statement.
I gave up, she won already. This is just for my future knowledge.
 
jova33 said:
In the link I posted it shows having a past tense verb in a future statement.
I gave up, she won already. This is just for my future knowledge.
Click to expand...

The link you posted shows the use of modals in the future perfect, "went" is not a modal. Just for your future knowledge. :)

OK that's enough grammar for the moment, it's time for me to go to school. :rolleyes:
 
OP:

There is more to communication than being grammatically correct. Something has to be said for being concise and clear as well. As others have already posted, there are many other ways of phrasing what you wanted to say without causing your wife to scratch her head about your weird wording.

BTW, your original phrasing did not employ the future perfect tense at all. Future perfect is:

"will have been." You said "will be" which is just regular ol' future tense of the verb "to be".

The first half of your sentence is imperfect past tense, which ideally would have been finished off with the imperfect past tense:

"By the time we went to bed, it was 2:30."

But that clearly was not your meaning. So the best way to phrase what you meant is:

"By the time we go to bed, it will be 2:30."


"We went to bed" can also be preterite past tense; the difference is that preterite implies a past event that has already concluded, whereas imperfect past tense implies ongoing action. In the context of your original sentence, you are referring to the act of going to bed, so it's in progress. English speakers often have a hard time distinguishing between preterite and imperfect tenses because often there is no distinction in the grammar. Romance languages make the distinction very clear in the verb conjugation.
 
novox77 said:
"We went to bed" can also be preterite past tense; the difference is that preterite implies a past event that has already concluded, whereas imperfect past tense implies ongoing action. In the context of your original sentence, you are referring to the act of going to bed, so it's in progress. English speakers often have a hard time distinguishing between preterite and imperfect tenses because often there is no distinction in the grammar. Romance languages make the distinction very clear in the verb conjugation.
Click to expand...

09-the-locative.jpg

Centurion: Romani...Eunt? What is eunt?
Brian: "Go"! De...
Centurion: Conjugate the verb "go"!
Brian: Aah...ere, eo, is, it, imus, itis, eunt.
Centurion: So eunt is...?
Brian: Aah, ehm...third person plural present indicative.
Ehm..."they go".
Centurion: But "Romans go home" is an order, so you must use
the...?
Brian: Aih! Imperative!
Centurion: Which is...?
Brian: Ehm, oh...oh, ehm...i, i!
Centurion: How many Romans?
Brian: Aah! it's...plural, plural! Ite! Ite!

No wonder so many students seem to hate doing Latin at school.
 
Wife's right.

"By the time we went to bed, it will be 2:30" isn't a real sentence. "Went" is past tense and the problem in this example.

Have you shown her this thread yet!?
 
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