Which tense is reflected in the verb 'will have finished' in the sentence: 'I will have finished my homework by the time my roommate gets home'?

The verb phrase 'will have finished' indicates that the action of finishing homework will be completed at a specific point in the future, which is when the roommate gets home. This construction is known as the future perfect tense, as it is formed by combining the auxiliary verb "will," the perfect aspect "have," and the past participle "finished."

Future perfect tense is used to describe an action that will be completed before another specified future time or event. In this case, the homework is not just going to be finished at some future moment, but it will be clearly done before the roommate's arrival, emphasizing the completion aspect of the action in relation to that future moment. Thus, this construction shows both the timing of the action and its completion relative to another event, which is the hallmark of future perfect tense.