If one says, 'I meant _to have visited_ Paris and _to have
returned_ to London before my father _arrived_ from America,' the past
[present perfect] infinitive ... is necessary for the expression of the
completion of the acts purposed. 'I meant _to visit_ Paris and _to return_
to London before my father _arrived_ from America,' may convey suggestively
the thought intended, but does not express it."]
The present infinitive expresses an action as present or future, and the
present perfect expresses it as completed, at the time indicated by the
principal verb. I _am glad to have met you_ is correct, because the meeting
took place before the time of being glad.
I _ought to have gone_ is exceptional. _Ought_ has no past tense form, and
so the present perfect infinitive is used to make the expression refer to
past time.
10. We hoped to have seen you often.
11. I should not have let you eaten it.
12. I should have liked to have seen it.
13. He would not have dared done that.
14. You ought to have helped me to have done it.
15. We expected that he would have arrived last night.
16. The experiment proved that air had weight.
+Remark+.--What is true or false at all times is generally expressed in the
present tense, whatever tense precedes.
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