Learn English – The use of the Future Perfect Continuous Passive in ‘The apples will have been being eaten by him’

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The apples will have been being eaten by him.

This sentence above was offered in my English class as an example of the future perfect continuous tense. This seems to me too awkward to be correct. Сould you explain the meaning of this sentence, if in fact, it is correct?

Best Answer

The future perfect continuous is actually

He will have been eating the apples.

Your sentence

The apples will have been being eaten by him.

makes the sentence a passive construction: the future perfect continuous passive. You can also say 'progressive' instead of 'continuous'. This uses

will - modal
have - perfect
been - continuous or progressive
being - passive
eaten - main verb

This is grammatical, but rarely used–even in writing. The chances of someone saying it are infinitesimal. Your teacher probably demonstrated this construction because it demonstrates all the possible "characteristics" a verb might take on, including a modal.

This is a passive construction due to being. The subject apples is being acted upon by the agent him.

A sentence more likely to be encountered in authentic English does include the progressive. This is the future perfect passive:

The apples will have been eaten by him.

as in

The apples will have been eaten by him by the time we get home.

The use of the progressive (or continuous) being stretches put the action so that it has duration and can be represented by ~~~~~~~~, but the use of the progressive in combination with the future perfect passive is rare. Few people, beyond linguistic professors, are ever going to need to express

The apples will have been being eaten by him by the time we get home.

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