have been/had been

Question

Greetings and salutations,Do the following two sentences have a different meaning? It soon proved that it had been a slight miscalculation.It soon proved to have been a slight miscalculation.Thank you.

Philip · Accepted Answer

They are attempts to mean the same thing. The second is correctly stated. The first should be It was soon proved that it was....
Many would simplify both by using just the infinitive to be.

Heralding Heretic · Answer

Thank you for replying.

I've changed it into, 'It soon proved that I had made a slight miscalculation.'

CalifJim · Answer

Heralding HereticIt soon proved that it had been a slight miscalculation.

This doesn't make sense. In "proved that" a person establishes the truth of a proposition.

By circumnavigating the globe, Magellan proved that the world is round.

"It" can't prove that [anything].

Heralding HereticIt soon proved to have been a slight miscalculation.

Correct. The idiom is 'prove to be' (or some form of that, which you have here). The meaning is, more or less, 'turn out to be'. In this case it's not so unusual to have the subject "it".

CJ

Heralding Heretic · Answer

Thank you for replying. I had the feeling that the first one was off, but I did not know why. Thank you for clarifying.

have been/had been

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions