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Difficulty: Very hardVerbs, Tenses, and Aspect

Complete the sentence below by providing the correct tense and aspect of the verb in brackets.

Answer:By the time the international tribunal delivers its ruling next month, the panel of justices 【will have been deliberating】 (deliberate) on the complex maritime boundary dispute for over half a year.

Answer

will have been deliberating
The correct verb phrase 'will have been deliberating' uses the Future Perfect Continuous aspect. This structure is required because the sentence establishes a future reference point ('By the time the tribunal delivers... next month') and measures an ongoing duration up to that moment ('for over half a year').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the temporal reference frame established by the main clause conjunction.
The phrase 'By the time...' followed by the simple present tense verb 'delivers' sets a future point of reference ('next month').
In subordinate temporal clauses referring to future events, English uses the simple present tense.
2
Identify the aspectual requirement from the duration adverbial.
The prepositional phrase 'for over half a year' denotes an ongoing, continuous duration.
Actions that continue over a period of time up to a specific benchmark require a continuous (progressive) aspectual construction.
3
Synthesize the tense and aspect requirements for the verb 'deliberate'.
Combining the future benchmark ('will'), perfect completion aspect ('have'), and continuous duration aspect ('been deliberating') yields 'will have been deliberating'.
The Future Perfect Continuous tense is strictly required when projecting an ongoing process up to a future point in time.

Key Concept

Future Perfect Continuous Tense and Aspect
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Topics

Verbs, Tenses, and Aspect

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