定義
過去將來完成進行時表動作從過去某一時間開始一直延續到過去將來某一時間。在英語時態中,“時“指動作發生的時間,”態“指動作的樣子和狀態。動作是否繼續下去,由上下文決定。這個時態用得相對比較少,通常主要用於轉述方面,即用於間接引語中。
由“would/should have been+現在分詞”構成。如:
I heard by July you’d have been teaching here for ten years.
我聽說到七月份,你就在這裡教了10年書了。
He said that by the end of the spring term he would have been studying English for three years.
他說到了春季學期末,他就學了三年英語了。
I knew by that time he would have been working there for 30 years.
我知道到那時他他就在那兒工作滿30年了。
She told me she’d have been teaching in that university for 20 years by that summer.
她告訴我到那年夏天她在那所大學教書就滿20年了。
用法
間接引語與過去將來完成進行時
在間接引語中,若主句為過去時態,則用於賓語從句中的間接引語則要把將來完成進行時改為過去將來完成進行時。如:
I know by this time next week you’ll have been working here for 30 years. →I knew by that time he would have been working there for 30 years.
She will have been teaching in this university for 20 years by this summer. →She told me she’d have been teaching in that university for 20 years by that summer.
過去將來完成進行時與虛擬語氣
在特定的語境中,有時過去將來完成進行時可用虛擬語氣。如:
At the time of the accident I was sitting in the back of the car,because Tom’s little boy was sitting beside him in front. If Tom’s boy had not been there I would have been sitting in front.
事故發生的時候,我坐在車子的后座,因為湯姆的小兒子坐在前邊他的身旁。要是湯姆的孩子沒坐在那裡的話,我就會坐在前面了。
過去將來完成進行時的情態意義
“would have been+現在分詞”結構除用於表示過去將來完成進行時外,有時其中的 would 也可能是情態動詞,具有情態意義,比較表示推測或猜想等。如:
“What interesting job have you found?” Helen asked him; he knew she would have been thinking about it.“
你找到什麼有趣的工作啦?”海倫向他問道。他知道海倫一定會一直想這件事的。
過去將來完成進行時補充例句
過去將來完成進行時不是一個常用時態,一般語法書也講得到很少,所以能找到的權威例句也很少。為滿足部分高級讀者朋友的需要,特從“英國國家語料庫”中查了部分例句,供大家參考:
◇Latterly, they would have been reading Virgin books, watching Virgin videos and Virgin films.
◇New York was swathed in sunlight and the heat would have been stifling had it not been for a gentle easterly breeze blowing in from the Atlantic.
◇Maybe we, it may well be that you were with other people, I wonder what sort of things if you were in a condition of speaking, what sort of things you would have been saying to them.
◇Obviously no expense was being spared to make the night a success, and in different circumstances she would have been looking forward to it, but now, as silence settled over the car, she could feel herself growing tense.