The meaning of "to have been"
Despite the usual passive constructions which use "have been", I've never seen someone have used "to have been". I would really grateful if someone could explain the usage of "to have been" in the following sentence.
Although they don't do a lot of harm, as far as we know up to now, this will probably prove to have been a mistake.
Top answer
"prove to ~" is followed by a verb infinitive. "to have been" is the perfect infinitive of the verb "be". It is used here to give a backward-looking sense from the time of "prove" to the time of "been a mistake", like future perfect tense.
- "prove to ~" is followed by a verb infinitive.
- "to have been" is the perfect infinitive of the verb "be".
- It is used here to give a backward-looking sense from the time of "prove" to the time of "been a mistake", like future perfect tense.
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"prove to ~" is followed by a verb infinitive. "to have been" is the perfect infinitive of the verb "be". It is used here to give a backward-looking sense from the time of "prove" to the time of "been a mistake", like future perfect tense.
0dileepa"to have been"
In terms of meaning it's the past of "to be".
Present or future: to be
Past: to have been
The fugitive is believed to be hiding in the forest. (hiding there now)
The fugitive is believed to have been hiding in the forest for several months. (hiding there in the past)
CJ
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