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Tense

Hi, I've a question relating to the tense of certain types of sentences.

The past tense is: 'He went to the market to buy food'.

The past perfect tense is: 'He had gone to the market to buy food' OR 'He hsd gone to the market to have bought food'.

Another example is here.

Past tense: He went to see the doctor.

Past perfect tense: He had gone to see the doctor OR He had gone to have seen the doctor.

Surely the second past perfect tense example is correct as all 0the tenses have to be changed when switching from past tense to past perfect tense.

Re: Tense

Good question.

The parts in the second half of your examples are infinitive phrases. They are modifiers (like adverbs) so do not need to be affected by the tense of the main verb.

Re: Tense

Hi, thanks for the reply, but are the modified parts acceptable as legitimate grammar? An example is 'he went to the market to buy fish' and 'he had gone to the market to have bought fish'. Is 'to have bought fish' acceptable and correct? Thanks once again! If I heard you correctly, 'he had gone to the market to buy fish' is perfectly fine.

Re: Tense

Hi,
I'm new to the site and like it a great deal. I'm interested in your discussion on infinitive phrases but could you please explain the examples you have on your main site which I've copied below?
He helped to build the roof. (noun)
Let me show you the best way to paint the door. (adjective)
The officer returned to help the inspectors. (adverb)

I'm not sure what the (noun) and (adjective) refer to in the first two examples. In the first example, I accept that 'to build the roof' is the direct object group. Is that what is meant by (noun)? In the second example though, isn't 'to paint the door' a non-finite dependent clause? I don't understand what's adjectival about it. The third example is, I agree, adverbial, but isn't it another non-finite adverbial clause? I'm a bit confused by your reference to these being phrases when they contain verbs which I always thought meant they must be clauses.

Re: Tense

Hi

I will do a bit more work on the infinitive phrase page to clarify these points. But, everything you said is right and everything on the page is right too. We're all correct! Hooray.

He helped to build the roof. (noun)

Here the infinitive phrase replaces the role of a noun.

He helped Jane. (noun)

The officer returned to help the inspectors. (adverb)

Here the infinitive phrase replaces the role of an adverb.

The officer returned quickly. (adverb)

Let me show you the best way to paint the door.(adjective)

Here the infinitive phrase replaces the role of an adjective. (And, this is the hard one because it replaces a compound, pre-modifying adjective.)

Let me show you the best paint-the-door way.

I'll think of a better example than that, and I'll add the explanation above.

I also see your point about clauses and phrases, but they're called infinitive phrases. I think we're just going to have to live with that. (I don't make the rules.) If that's going to keep you awake at night (as it would me), then perhaps clauses (with a verb) can be phrases (less than a sentence), but phrases can't be clauses. Maybe, it doesn't go phrases, clauses, sentences. Maybe, it goes phrases and sentences with clauses being a special "verbed up" phrase.

I am waffling now. I hope some of this answer was useful!