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I understand that 'already' is good friends with perfect tenses and it can also be used with the present and the past, but what about future tenses?

I found the following sentences on the Internet:

  1. the future perfect: When you arrive, the business will already have been completed.
  2. the simple future: When you arrive, the business will already be complete.

I can understand and accept the first one (as it's still the perfect tense) but what about the second? Does it make any sense? If so, can someone comment on it and explain it to me (and possibly give some examples)?

Many thanks!

2 Answers 2

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Examples of 'already' with future simple.

Bring a torch, because when you get here it will already be dark.

Turn on the heat under the pan. Then, when the onions are chopped the oil will already be hot.

In Northern Europe, sow peppers and marrows indoors; then, when you plant them out in late April they will already be several centimetres high. But garlic is hardy; it will already be warm enough now to plant them straight into the soil.

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We don't use the simple future to say what somebody has already decided or arranged to do in the future. We use instead either the present continuous or "going to + verb" (Future plan) : •Ann is going to travel to New York next week. (NOT, "Ann will travel ") •Are you going to watch television? (NOT "will you watch"). So, in this regard, the asked sentence would be 2.When you arrive , the business is going to be completed.

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  • Sorry, but “Anne will travel to New York next week.” is perfectly fine. And so are the rest of them.
    – Jim
    Commented Mar 16, 2016 at 5:56

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