ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: it won't have worked out, you...

olga55 — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:53:02 GMT

Avangi, thank you. The future perfect is so rare that I have almost forgotton its usage and translation.

Re: it won't have worked out, you...

Avangi — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:47:17 GMT

When things work out (intransitive) the outcome of a plan or course of events is favorable, and lives up to your best expectations. When things don't work out for you in college you aren't able to keep up with your work or financial obligations, or whatever needs to be done to keep you enrolled. You ultimately flunk out and are gone.

The future perfect tense indicates that one out of every three beginning freshmen will not "have survived" to reach the three-year mark.

- A.

it won't have worked out, you...

olga55 — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:33:24 GMT

Hello, can I ask your help in paraphrasing or explaining the sentence in bold? Thank you.

The secrets of outstanding prof.

"Look to the person on your left, barks the professor. Now look to the one on your right.

In three years, one of you will be gone; it won't have worked out, you will have had to leave.

It's the hardball opener professors have used for decades to knock cocky freshmen down to size. But this was English professor Nick Mount talking to fellow University of Toronto professors in a workshop on how to design a good first class."