what is the verb tense in the sentence: "By this time next year, Senator Smith will have been in office for 24 years."

The verb tense in the sentence "By this time next year, Senator Smith will have been in office for 24 years" is the future perfect continuous tense.

Here's the step-by-step analysis:

1. Identify the verb or verb phrase: In this case, "will have been in office" is the verb phrase.

2. Determine the tense: The future perfect continuous tense is used to indicate an action that will continue up until a point in the future.

In this sentence, the action is "Senator Smith being in office," and the point in the future is "this time next year." The use of "will have been" indicates that this action will continue up until that point, making the verb tense future perfect continuous.