Learn English – Is it correct to say: “she’s having her housework done by this evening”

prepositionstime

I'm not sure about the correct phrase to say something that has to end before a specific moment. I read that it can be written as: "by + expire time/date". For instance, you can think about doing an essay that has a duty time: "you have to hand in this essay by the 16th of March/by the end of this month". Is it wrong? Thanks in advance

Best Answer

You have to hand in this essay by the 16th of March.

This is grammatically correct and easily understandable.

She's having her housework done by this evening

This doesn't really work. The by is fine, but the use of present continuous doesn't work with it. You normally use present continuous about something that is happening now, or something that is happening around some specified time in the future, for example:

She's having her housework done now
She's having her housework done this evening

You can't really use it for before a specified time. For that, you should use future perfect:

She will have had her housework done by this evening.

With present perfect, the by-time is not only possible but required, so this takes precedence over the optional by-agent clause that might be expected after the passive-voice having ... done. This therefore deals with the double-take issue raised by stangdon in his comment.

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