Have paid

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1) He was reported to have paid the agent €5,000.2) He was reported to pay the agent €5,000.What's the difference in meaning between 1) and 2) ?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Anonymous1) He was reported to have paid the agent €5,000.2) He was reported to pay the agent €5,000.What's the difference in meaning between 1) and 2) ?

2) doesn't have much meaning. I find it difficult to assign meaning to it. That's the difference.

'[is / was] [reported / said] to have [past participle]' is the pattern.

You can't report or say that something happened until after it happened. The 'to have [past participle]' shows that time relationship.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimYou can't report or say that something happened until after it happened. The 'to have [past participle]' shows that time relationship.

Thanks for the reply. Yet, one can say 1) He is said to be a good doctor and 2) He is said to have been a good doctor where the 2) have a notion of him being a retired doctor whereas the 1) doesn't.

Fivejedjon · Answer

AnonymousCalifJimYou can't report or say that something happened until after it happened. The 'to have [past participle]' shows that ti

There's a world of difference between an utterance beginning "he was reported ..." and one beginning "he is said ...".

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousThanks for the reply. Yet, one can say 1) He is said to be a good doctor and 2) He is said to have been a good doctor where the 2) have a notion of him being a retired doctor whereas the 1) doesn't.

True, but I don't quite see your point. Paying an agent and being good at your profession are entirely different ideas. One is an event; the other is a characteristic or trait. Once you pay, the money is gone. The event is finished. But you can go on being a good doctor indefinitely.

The event's being finished is the equivalent of your remark about being "a retired doctor". Think of the payment as "retired" if you want, because it's no longer happening. It's in the past. It was already in the past by the time it was reported. That's why it has "have".

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

"He is said to be a good doctor." is correct and means: People report that he is a good doctor.

"He is said to have been a good doctor." is correct and means: People report that he used to be a good doctor (he might be retired, deceased, or not practicing medicine at the present time).

"He was reported to have paid the agent 5000E." is awkward, in my view. Usually this would be, "He is reported to have paid the agent 5000E.", meaning: People say that he paid the agent 5000E. The construction, "He .... reported", is typically only used in the present tense, since you would usually not bother to say something like: In the past, people said he paid the agent 5000E . However, you might say: "It was reported that he paid the agent 5000E.", meaning: In the past, there were reports that he paid the agent 5000E. This type of sentence is often heard in investigative reporting.

"He was reported to pay the agent 5000E." is just plain ungrammatical. The syntax is all wrong here.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous"He was reported to have paid the agent 5000E." is awkward, in my view.

In that case there must be a lot of people writing awkward sentences. Here are nearly 500.

See http://fraze.it/n_search.jsp?q=%22was+reported+to+have%22&l=0&sugg=off

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJim AnonymousThanks for the reply. Yet, one can say 1) He is said to be a good doctor and 2) He is said to have been a good doctor where the 2) have a notion of him being a retired doctor whereas the 1) doesn't.True, but I don't quite see your point. Paying an agent and being good at your profession are entirely different ideas. One is an event; the other is a characteristic or trait. Once you pay, the money is gone. The event is finished. But you can go on being a good doctor indefinitely. The event's being finished is the equivalent of your remark about being "a retired doctor". Think of the payment as "retired" if you want, because it's no longer happening. It's in the past. It was already in the past by the time it was reported. That's why it has "have".CJ

Thanks for the explanation.

I've understood that Having paid the agent is an action done, being a good doctor means a present state and having been a good doctor a past one. The usage differs when applying the state-verbs (in contrast with the action-verbs).

Anonymous · Answer

Anonymous"He was reported to have paid the agent 5000E." is awkward, in my view.

In my view it isn't. I understand it as a sentence in the past simple with the linking verb "was" and the adjectival complement "reported". I think that it may be used when "He" (the subject) is dead.

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