For 2ème Bac.

Students

M. Abdessalami

By the time you finish reading this sentence, you will have realized there is nothing special about it.
 « By the time » clause for 2ème Bac. students

The easy way

STUDENT 1
This year we are studying perfect tenses especially the past perfect and the future
perfect. And I noticed that the phrase “by the time” is used with both tenses and I can’t say if
it requires the past perfect or the future perfect?! For example the teacher asked us the put the
verbs between brackets in these two sentences in the correct form. Here they are
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1. By the time my parents come, we (clean) ___________________ the mess.
2. By the time my parents came, we (clean) ___________________ the mess.
Now can you put the verbs between brackets in the correct form?
STUDENT 2
No, I can’t. But I guess she wants you to discover the difference in use of the “by the
time”.
STUDENT 1
I see! These sentences are used after a party is over. Let’s try to do it together, OK?!
STUDENT 2
OK, let’s. First the sentences give the impression that they are alike! There should be a
trick somewhere. Wait, wait! I guess I found the trick! Look at the verb in the “by the time”
clause in both sentences.
STUDENT 1
Let me see! “come …. came”. YES! That’s the secret. In the first sentence, the verb is
(come) in the present and in the second; it is (came) in the past. There surely is an effect on
the verb (clean) between brackets. What do you think?
STUDENT 2
I think that the tense of the verb in the “by the time” clause means a lot to find out if
the verb in the main clause should be in the past perfect of the future perfect.
STUDENT 1
Exactly! When the verb in the “by the time” clause is in the present, I guess the verb in
the main clause: (clean) in this case, should be in the future perfect because the action
(cleaning) will have finished by the time the parents come. Yes, yes! It sounds logical.
STUDENT 2
Yes, I agree! To follow your logic, whenever the verb in the “by the time” clause is in
the present we should use the Future Perfect, and whenever the verb in the “by the time”
clause is in the past, we should use the Past Perfect.
STUDENT 1
I guess so. Now let’s do the exercise and see if the teacher would accept our point of
view.
TEACHER (reading)
1. By the time my parents come, we (clean) will have cleaned the mess.
2. By the time my parents came, we (clean) had cleaned the mess.
TEACHER:
Well done.

M. Abdessalami
 « By the time » clause for 2ème Bac. students

The hard way

The Bac. Students are studying the perfect tenses, particularly the past perfect tense
and the future perfect tense, hence the frequent use of the phrase “by the time”.
“By the time” is used to indicate the end of an action in a time period, to imagine or to
predict the relative timing of two activities or events in the past, present or future. In other
words, “by the time” is used to refer to the second action of two completed actions either in
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the past or in the present. This creates confusion for most students because this very phrase is
used to introduce clauses which show that at the end of a certain action, another action is still
going on or completed. When we use “by the time” with a completed action either in the past
or present, the students are required to identify the appropriate perfect tense to use
subsequently.
Most Baccalaureate students find it very hard to distinguish the perfect tense (past or
future) to use when the “by the time” phrase is used. But this is not really tough to find out if
we know the secret.
In order to put an end to the students’ disorientation about this, I’ll try to unveil the
secret in a very down-to-earth way.
Compare between these two sentences and try to detect the secret
1. By the time they return, I will have finished my homework.
2. By the time they returned, I had finished my homework.

1. The verb in the “by the time” clause here is in the present: (return). Therefore, the tense
used in the other clauses should be in the future perfect. (will have finished).
2. The verb here is the simple past (returned). Therefore the tense used in the other clauses
should be in the past perfect. (had finished)

Check these
1. By the time the police arrived, the burglars had already escaped.
2. By the time the police arrive, the burglars will already have escaped.
As a conclusion whenever the verb in the “by the time” clause is in the present, the
verb in the other clause is in the future perfect.
Likewise whenever the verb in the “by the time” clause is in the past, the verb in the
main clause is in the past perfect.
Both situations describe an action, that at a given end-point action (in the present or
past), is completed. In other words:

☺ By the time an action happens, another action will have happened.

☺ By the time an action happened, another action had happened.
☺ She will have gone forever by the time you realize you need her.
☺ By the time you received my letter, I had moved far in the south.
☺ You shall have understood the lesson by the time you reach this point.

M. Abdessalami
 « By the time » clause for 2ème Bac. students

Writing
1. He is so slow that by the time he brings me water, I (die) _________________ out of thirst
2. He is so slow that by the time he brings me water, I (die) will have died out of thirst.
When two events happen in the past, we have to mark which one happened first. The
one that happened first changes to third form and gets the helping verb, "had" like when you
received an invitation after the party had been over.
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e.g
o By the time we received the invitation, the wedding party had been over.
o By the time the dog noticed the thief last night, John’s house had been robbed.
o Sue had driven for half an hour by the time she realized it was the wrong way.

Confusing (!)
There are some verbs once they are used in the “by the time” clause can create some
confusion for the students. They simply cannot identify its real tense, “present simple” or
“past simple”. Here is an example
Put the verb between brackets in the correct tense
 By the time they read my note, I (be) _______________________ far away.
The confusion here, in brief, comes from the nature of the verb “to read” which can
either be in the present or in the past. Therefore, there are two ways to do this. You can use
either the “past perfect”’ or “the future perfect” in the main clause because the verb “to read”
is the same in all forms: the simple present (except for the third person singular (he / she / it
reads), simple past or the past participle.
So, this is it,
1. By the time they read my note, I (be) ___will have been______ far away.
2. By the time they read my note, I (be) ____had been_______ __ far away.
The verb “to read” in the first answer is considered to be in the simple present that’s
why we use “will have been”. But for answer (2) we suppose the verb “to read” is in the past
simple, that’s why we use “had been” in the main clause.
The verb “to read”, actually, is not the only verb creating this confusion, there are
others, for instance, “to bet”, “to burst”, “to cast”, “to cut”, “to hit”, “to hurt”, “to let”, “to
put”, “to set”, “to shut”.
In order to avoid the confusion, an extra context is needed or at least an adapting
adverb of time.
 By the time they put the fire out last night, my room (turn) ______________ into ashes
This way, the students can recognize the tense and know for sure if they will use “the future
perfect” or “the past perfect” for the verb between brackets. Then, the confusion is discarded
and only one answer is to be correct.
 By the time they put the fire out last night, my room (burn) __had burnt___ into ashes

M. Abdessalami
 « By the time » clause for 2ème Bac. students

Practice
Put the verbs between brackets in the correct tense
1. You (understand) ________________________ the lesson by the time you do this. ( I hope)
2. The students (get) _____________________________tired by the time they finish the test.
3. By the time we arrived there, the bank (close) ___________________________________.
5 4. By the time he was 25, he (already / be) __________________________________married.
5. By the time your son is 12, the world population (double) _________________________.
6. By the time you woke up, I (read) ________________________________the book twice.
7. The bus (leave) _______________________________ by the time we reached the station.
8. Be careful, by the time you shut the cage, the bird (fly) _______________________away.

I hope you have got them all correct otherwise I will be disappointed. Thanks for passing by.

1. You (understand) _shall/will have understood_ the lesson by the time you do this. ( I hope)
2. The students (get) __will have got(ten)__tired by the time they finish the test.
3. By the time we arrived there, the bank (close) __had closed______
4. By the time he was 25, he (already / be) __had already been___ married.
5. By the time your son is 12, the world population (double) _will have doubled__.
6. By the time you woke up, I (read) __had read___ the book twice.
7. The bus (leave) __had left____ by the time we reached the station.
8. Be careful, by the time you shut the cage, the bird (fly) ___ will have flown__ away.
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Life is so illusory that by the time we start to understand its mystery, we will have become conscious
that we have to leave it empty handed.
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M. Abdessalami
 « By the time » clause for 2ème Bac. students

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M. Abdessalami