If you start off by saying "The company WAS not a non-profit, then it must be the case that the company has already started, right? Even if you said "IS not a non-profit," it would still be the case that the company, being already in existence, must have started. So in both those cases, you'd have to use the perfect infinitive if indeed you wanted to use the infinitive. "The company was/is not a non-profit, but is more likely to HAVE BEGUN as a for-profit company." If the company hadn't yet started ("The company WILL NOT BE a non-profit"), then you'd say (again, if you wanted to use an infinitive at all) "but is more likely to begin as a for-profit company."Thanks Ashley, Now i will apply this to our sentence, please correct if i am wrong.
I am in present and talking about something in past. AND more importantly the "something" i am talking about has already begun (this comes from meaning of sentence as subject is of ancient times and person talking would not had been born at that time (did i use correct tense "had been born") --> "would not have been born"
. So i will use perfect infinitive.
Now lets consider another sentence,
The company was not a non-profit but more likely to (begin/have begun) as a for-profit company.
In this case i am standing in present and talking about something in past BUT i do not know if company has already started or not
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Ashley@VeritasPrep
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mundasingh123
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No problem!
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vikram4689
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Got it thanksAshley@VeritasPrep wrote:If you start off by saying "The company WAS not a non-profit, then it must be the case that the company has already started, right? Even if you said "IS not a non-profit," it would still be the case that the company, being already in existence, must have started. So in both those cases, you'd have to use the perfect infinitive if indeed you wanted to use the infinitive. "The company was/is not a non-profit, but is more likely to HAVE BEGUN as a for-profit company." If the company hadn't yet started ("The company WILL NOT BE a non-profit"), then you'd say (again, if you wanted to use an infinitive at all) "but is more likely to begin as a for-profit company."Thanks Ashley, Now i will apply this to our sentence, please correct if i am wrong.
I am in present and talking about something in past. AND more importantly the "something" i am talking about has already begun (this comes from meaning of sentence as subject is of ancient times and person talking would not had been born at that time (did i use correct tense "had been born"
Now lets consider another sentence,
The company was not a non-profit but more likely to (begin/have begun) as a for-profit company.
In this case i am standing in present and talking about something in past BUT i do not know if company has already started or not
.... i did not realize that tense in infinitive part is in reference to present time, i was applying it with reference to past time frame.Premise: If you like my post
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voodoo_child
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Ashley@VeritasPrep wrote:Quick question - In the above case, wouldn't we use hypothetical tense ? I am curiousIf the company hadn't yet started ("The company WILL NOT BE a non-profit"), then you'd say (again, if you wanted to use an infinitive at all) "but is more likely to begin as a for-profit company." [/color]
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voodoo_child
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Ashley:
Can you please help me to with "grammar surgery" on this sentence ? I am not able to understand it
"The badminton players have always loved to compete in their home gymnasium but look forward to the places that they have gone this season."
My inference - Badminton Players players love to compete on their home ground. But they are open to visit ONLY those places that they have gone in the past?
I am not able to understand the role of infinitive "to compete" on top of "have loved"? Does it mean that "to compete" precedes "present perfect" or "to compete" is contemporaneous with "present perfect"?
The second part of the sentence makes sense. Look forward is a present tense. "have gone" denotes the act of having visited places in the past.
Thanks
Voodoo
Can you please help me to with "grammar surgery" on this sentence ? I am not able to understand it
"The badminton players have always loved to compete in their home gymnasium but look forward to the places that they have gone this season."
My inference - Badminton Players players love to compete on their home ground. But they are open to visit ONLY those places that they have gone in the past?
I am not able to understand the role of infinitive "to compete" on top of "have loved"? Does it mean that "to compete" precedes "present perfect" or "to compete" is contemporaneous with "present perfect"?
The second part of the sentence makes sense. Look forward is a present tense. "have gone" denotes the act of having visited places in the past.
Thanks
Voodoo
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mundasingh123
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Grammar Surgery - I like itvoodoo_child wrote:Ashley:
Can you please help me to with "grammar surgery" on this sentence ? I am not able to understand it
"The badminton players have always loved to compete in their home gymnasium but look forward to the places that they have gone this season."
My inference - Badminton Players players love to compete on their home ground. But they are open to visit ONLY those places that they have gone in the past?
I am not able to understand the role of infinitive "to compete" on top of "have loved"? Does it mean that "to compete" precedes "present perfect" or "to compete" is contemporaneous with "present perfect"?
The second part of the sentence makes sense. Look forward is a present tense. "have gone" denotes the act of having visited places in the past.
Thanks
Voodoo
I Seek Explanations Not Answers
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Ashley@VeritasPrep
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voodoo_child wrote:I'm not super-sure if I understand the question, but I think I do... The part you've underlined is not intended to part of the sentence, but rather just to set up the scenario. In other words, here's what we'd say if the company had not yet started: "The company will not be a non-profit, but is more likely to begin as a for-profit enterprise."Ashley@VeritasPrep wrote:Quick question - In the above case, wouldn't we use hypothetical tense ? I am curiousIf the company hadn't yet started ("The company WILL NOT BE a non-profit"), then you'd say (again, if you wanted to use an infinitive at all) "but is more likely to begin as a for-profit company." [/color]
Or do you mean would we avoid implying certainty at the beginning? Maybe say something more like "The company will likely not be a non-profit, but rather is likely to begin as a for-profit enterprise." ? We could do that.
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Ashley@VeritasPrep
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Yeah, the sentence is kind of weird. It slides by as grammatically acceptable if the intended meaning is something like "they look forward to RETURNING (next season) to the places they have gone this season." But if that is the intended meaning, it'd be a lot better to actually have that "returning" in there. It's sort of nonsensical to look forward to a place -- you look forward to DOING something.voodoo_child wrote:Ashley:
Can you please help me to with "grammar surgery" on this sentence ? I am not able to understand it
"The badminton players have always loved to compete in their home gymnasium but look forward to the places that they have gone this season."
My inference - Badminton Players players love to compete on their home ground. But they are open to visit ONLY those places that they have gone in the past?
If there's a grammatical error in the sentence, then it means to express something different and wants to phrase itself differently. Quite likely, the sentence means to express -- and should say -- "The badminton players have always loved to compete in their home gymnasium but look forward to the places that they will go this season."
It means the loving is contemporaneous with the competing -- each time they have competed, they have loved doing so.voodoo_child wrote: I am not able to understand the role of infinitive "to compete" on top of "have loved"? Does it mean that "to compete" precedes "present perfect" or "to compete" is contemporaneous with "present perfect"?
Thanks
Voodoo
If it meant to place the competing prior in time to the loving (and this would be kind of strange), it would have to say "They have always loved to have competed...." But if it said that, it would mean that they did NOT love the competing while they were doing it; they didn't love it till after the fact. Again, this would be kind of odd, but for instance, consider the difference between the sentences, "I would love to read the dictionary" and "I would love to have read the dictionary." The former means that I would actually love reading it while I was doing so. The latter means that I would probably not at all enjoy reading the dictionary; I would just love to HAVE DONE so, because I would enjoy the reward of then knowing the meaning of every word.
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