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Perfect infinitives, passive infinitives, perfect gerunds and passive gerunds.
Infinitives and gerunds can have perfect, continuous, passive, and combined perfect-passive forms.
These forms allow speakers to express time relationships, ongoing activity, and the fact that the subject receives rather than performs an action.
The perfect infinitive is formed with to have followed by a past participle.
It normally refers to an action or state that occurred before the time of the main verb.
Use the perfect infinitive when the infinitive action happened before the main verb or reference point.
For example, She seems to have forgotten the appointment.
Reporting and perception expressions can use the perfect infinitive to report an earlier event.
For example, He is believed to have left the country and She appears to have misunderstood the question.
Seem and appear can be followed by a perfect infinitive to describe an earlier event or state.
For example, She seems to have forgotten and They appear to have reached an agreement.
Modal verbs can combine with the perfect infinitive to express possibility, deduction, regret, or unrealized situations in the past.
For example, He may have forgotten, She must have left, and They should have arrived earlier.
The continuous infinitive is formed with to be followed by an -ing form.
It presents an activity as being in progress around the relevant reference time.
The perfect continuous infinitive is formed with to have been followed by an -ing form.
It describes an activity that was continuing before the reference point of the main verb.
The perfect continuous infinitive is especially useful when the duration or ongoing nature of an earlier activity is important.
For example, He seems to have been working all night.
The passive infinitive is formed with to be followed by a past participle.
It describes an action that the subject of the infinitive receives.
Verbs that take a to-infinitive can be followed by a passive infinitive when the subject receives the action.
For example, She expects to be invited and He wants to be informed.
Adjectives can be followed by passive infinitives when the subject is the receiver of the action.
For example, The documents are ready to be signed and This form is difficult to complete.
The perfect passive infinitive is formed with to have been followed by a past participle.
It describes a passive action that happened before the main verb or reference point.
Reporting constructions use the perfect passive infinitive to refer to an earlier passive event.
For example, He is believed to have been injured and She is thought to have been informed.
Modal verbs can combine with the perfect passive infinitive to express past possibility, deduction, criticism, or expectation concerning a passive event.
For example, The documents may have been lost and The work should have been completed earlier.
The perfect gerund is formed with having followed by a past participle.
It emphasizes that the gerund action happened before the action or state in the main clause.
Use the perfect gerund when the earlier timing of the gerund action is relevant or needs to be made explicit.
For example, She denied having seen him before.
A perfect gerund can follow a preposition when the earlier action needs to be emphasized.
For example, He apologized for having arrived late.
The passive gerund is formed with being followed by a past participle.
It describes an action received by the understood subject of the gerund phrase.
Verbs that take gerunds can be followed by passive gerunds when the subject receives the action.
For example, She dislikes being ignored and He remembers being warned.
A passive gerund normally follows a preposition when the action after the preposition is passive.
For example, She left without being seen and He was criticized for being careless.
The perfect passive gerund is formed with having been followed by a past participle.
It describes a passive action that happened before the main event or reference point.
Use the perfect passive gerund when a previous passive action needs to be clearly distinguished from the main event.
For example, He denied having been informed about the change.
Simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous forms allow the speaker to establish different relationships between the non-finite action and the main verb.
The key distinction is whether the action is simultaneous, earlier, ongoing, or completed before the reference point.
The simple infinitive normally refers to an action occurring at or after the reference point, while the perfect infinitive normally refers to an earlier action.
Compare She seems to be tired with She seems to have been tired after the journey.
The simple gerund normally refers to an action that is simultaneous with or viewed generally from the main clause, while the perfect gerund emphasizes an earlier action.
Compare He regrets leaving with He regrets having left early.
Choose an active or passive infinitive or gerund according to whether the understood subject performs or receives the action.
Compare She expects to win with She expects to be invited, and He remembers telling her with He remembers being told.
Perfect and passive meanings can combine when a non-finite action is both earlier and received by its subject.
Compare to have completed, to be completed, and to have been completed.
Complex infinitive and gerund forms are particularly common in formal, academic, professional, and literary English.
Simpler constructions are often preferred in everyday speech when the more complex time or voice relationship is not important.
Use the correct combination of infinitive or gerund, perfect or simple form, and active or passive voice.
Common mistakes include confusing to have done with to be doing, using been incorrectly in passive forms, confusing having done with being done, and omitting required auxiliary verbs.