After taking up the perfect gerund in last week’s column, we’ll now take up
the perfect infinitive. As with the perfect gerund, we must make clear in our mind that the qualifying word “perfect” in the term “perfect infinitive” isn’t being used in the sense of “highly accurate’ or “flawless” but in that of a “completed” or “perfected” action or condition.
The perfect infinitive has the form: “to have + the past participle or ‘-ed’ form of the verb,” as in the sentence “She
declared with great fervor
to have met all the qualifications required of presidential candidates, but that declaration has been challenged in court.” In that particular sentence, the perfect infinitive is the form “to have met all the qualifications” and it works with the main verb “declared” to denote an action or situation that might have happened or been true in the past.
The perfect infinitive form can likewise be used to refer to an action that’s expected to be completed at some point in the future, as in “The company
hopes with great expectations
to have finished its restructuring by April.” Here, the perfect infinitive is “to have finished its restructuring” and it works with the main verb “hopes” to denote an action that’s expected to be completed at that given point in time.”
In contrast to the perfect infinitive, the action in sentences using
the simple infinitive coincides or is simultaneous with the action of the main verb. We can see this in the sentence “They
want her
to drop her candidacy,” where the action in the simple infinitive “to drop her candidacy” is simultaneous in time with the action of the main verb “want.”
Sentences that use the perfect infinitive often mean the same as those using their perfect tense or past tense equivalent. Take a look at these examples: “He is
ecstatic to have attained his quarterly sales quota.” (“He is
ecstatic that he has attained his quarterly sales quota.”) “She
regrets to have turned down his marriage proposal.” (‘She
regrets that she had turned down his marriage proposal.”) “The board
seems to have lost confidence in you.” (It
seems that the board has lost confidence in you.”)
The perfect infinitive can likewise be used in a clause with a verb that has no subject to refer to events that did happen in the past or to events that might have happened but didn’t, as in these examples: “
To have earned the highest honors in class despite being blind was an outstanding feat.” (The blind student
did get the highest honors.) “
To have won the debating championship would have been great, but even landing third runner-up was a great consolation.” (The debater
lost the championship.)
Now let’s take a look at the usage of
the perfect infinitive “to have been,” a special form that has the following two applications:
1. As a noun form to denote a hypothetical state or condition in the past, or a state or condition in the past that has been determined to be true only now:
As subject of the sentence: “
To have been his associate would have boosted her political career.”
As complement: “It’s great imagining
to have been her costar in that movie.”
As adverbial modifier: “The legislator was found
to have been unqualified for public office in the first place.”
2. As a noun form to denote a state or action in the past that is no longer subsisting (used with the passive form of such telling verbs as “say,” “believe,” “consider,” “assume,” “suppose,” and “think”: “He is reputed
to have been an outstanding student leader in the 1960s.” “She’s widely thought
to have been the most beautiful woman of her time.”
This ends our discussion of the perfect infinitive.
(Next week:
“Come” or “go” and “bring” or “take”?) January 16, 2020
This essay, 1,178th of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the January 9, 2020 print and Internet editions of The Manila Times
,© 2020 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
