Help me oh language geeks

[drwex]

Is it "By next week this insanity will be past" or "By next week this insanity will be/have passed"?

Comments

[caulay.livejournal.com]

Both "will be past" and "will have passed" are correct. Technically, even "will be passed" is correct but I would consider it an odd formation.

However, they mean subtly different things. "Will be past" means that that the insanity will take on the aspect of "past" in the temporal sense. "Will have passed" means that the insanity will have moved on (with connotations of having been endured) but could easily still be something you will encounter again in the future.

Given your current situation, I suspect you mean "will have passed".

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Agree. "Will be past" is like saying "will be history." Which y'know, may be what you want!

[rmd.livejournal.com]

another vote for "will have passed"

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

yep, this.

[points.livejournal.com]

By next week, we shall be insane and no longer care.