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Deborahjeong Posted 9 years ago
Grammar
Is the phrase in the bracket correct?
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Please allow me to ask you a question.
"It is believed that tropical rainforests are home to over half of the world’s species of plants and animals : they appear to be the most diverse expressions of life [ ever to have existed."]
I do not quite get the last phrase "ever to have existed." As far as I am concerned, to infinitive is meant to futuristic where as gerunds are meant to describe something that have happened in the past or is happening in the present. Logically speaking, tropical forests will not exist in the future but have existed already. I think that the sentence should be as follows:
they appear to be the most diverse expressions of life ever having existed. Well, but I am not sure though. Could you help me clarify it? Is the original phrase "ever to have existed" correct? Thanks.
Please allow me to ask you a question.
"It is believed that tropical rainforests are home to over half of the world’s species of plants and animals : they appear to be the most diverse expressions of life [ ever to have existed."]
I do not quite get the last phrase "ever to have existed." As far as I am concerned, to infinitive is meant to futuristic where as gerunds are meant to describe something that have happened in the past or is happening in the present. Logically speaking, tropical forests will not exist in the future but have existed already. I think that the sentence should be as follows:
they appear to be the most diverse expressions of life ever having existed. Well, but I am not sure though. Could you help me clarify it? Is the original phrase "ever to have existed" correct? Thanks.
Top answer
deborahjeong Is the original phrase "ever to have existed" correct? Yes. The perfect infinitive, "to have existed", is used to talk about things that happened (or might have happened) in the past.
- deborahjeong Is the original phrase "ever to have existed" correct?
- Yes.
- The perfect infinitive, "to have existed", is used to talk about things that happened (or might have happened) in the past.
- deborahjeong they appear to be the most diverse expressions of life ever having existed This is not correct.
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1 Answers
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deborahjeongIs the original phrase "ever to have existed" correct?
Yes. The perfect infinitive, "to have existed", is used to talk about things that happened (or might have happened) in the past.
deborahjeongthey appear to be the most diverse expressions of life ever having existed
This is not correct.
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