Verbal basics " Will have had { future perfect }"

Question

Hi all

"joe will have had three children after this baby is born "

Why can't we write the above sentence like this :

" joe will have three children after this baby is born "

Even " will have " explaining the future in the sentence!!

Please explain what's the difference of using "have had "and "have " .
Can we use ""had "" instead of using "have had". ??

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  henryford , this looks like a correct sentence.

How did you get the impression that it is  not  a correct sentence?

henryford · Answer

Hi Ashish ,

Never mentioned it's wrong am just asking what the big difference in using have had and just will have .

I will correct the question if it's confusing .

Thanks 
Henry

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Henry, following usage of  Future perfect  would be perfect:)

joe will have had three children by the time he turns 30!

Future perfect  basically indicates that an action will have been completed  before  some point (in this case before Joe turns 30) in the future.

Just Google Future perfect, for more information. By the way, GMAT doesn't really doesn't test on Future perfect in any big way (I can hardly recollect any sentence).

henryford · Answer

Thanks Ashish , tried in google didn't understood the point there so was asking here .

So the point here is that since it's a perfect future tense where an future action will happen after current future action in progress . Is that right ?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Henry, it's more like: a future action will have happened before another time/action in the future.

In my example in the previous post:

Joe will have had three children by the time he turns 30!

A future action (Joe having three children) will have happened  before  another time (Joe turning 30) in the future.

ccooley · Answer

One reason this example is especially confusing is that we're using both the ordinary verb "have" (as in, "I have three children") and the helper verb "have" (as in, "I have eaten breakfast.") When you try to put the verb "have" into one of the perfect tenses, you can get weird sentences like this one:

"Last night, she told me that she  had had  a bad day."

"Have" is also a weird verb, because you can use it in two different ways in this context. If you say "Linda has a child," you would mean that Linda is a parent. But if you say "Linda is having a child," you mean that she's actually giving birth right now (or in the immediate future.) In your first example, you're saying that Joe's partner will have given birth to three children. In your second example, you're saying that Joe will be a parent of three children.

Long story short, this example seems weird just because English is a weird language. If you used any other example aside from having a child, it would be easier to understand the grammar! For instance, try the verb "read":

Joe will have read three books by the time his vacation ends.

Joe will read three books by the time his vacation ends.

They basically mean the same thing, and they're both correct. On the GMAT, as long as the sentences don't break any grammar rules, you don't need to worry about the tiny details of what minor changes in verb tense mean. If there's a meaning difference here, it's very subtle.

VodkaHelps · Answer

Hi EducationAisle,

could help please me with the following sentence?

They can have a custom mount built in just 3 days after they observe the camera. 
or 
They can have a custom mount built in just 3 days after they had observed the camera.

the idea is: after observing and studying the camera, they can deliver a mount specifically designed for that camera in 3 days. 
Although it sounds like Future perfect should be used, but "after they will have observed the camera" does not sound right to me.

Please advise. Very appreciated.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  VodkaHelps , it seems that you got the sequencing a bit wrong.

Following is correct:

They can have a custom mount built in just 3 days after they observe the camera .

As I mentioned above,  Future perfect  basically indicates that an action will have been completed  before  some point in the future. So, if we have to use  Future perfect , then we need to articulate the sentence as:

After they observe the camera, they  will have built  a custom mount within 3 days .

VodkaHelps · Answer

Thank you for your reply.

Did you accidentally left "built" before within?

EducationAisle · Answer

Thanks! Removed it from my post:).

Verbal basics " Will have had { future perfect }"

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