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Nikoo Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

The perfect infinitive

In the sentence, "Darwin speculated that some birds might have this ability, but it's amazing to have proved it."


Could you please tell me what "to have proved it" indicates?
Does it indicate that Darwin himself has proved birds' ability to do a particular thing?

Thanks in advance
Nikoo
  

Top answer

I can't tell from just this isolated sentence what the writer may have meant. We don't know who proved it, and that makes it a poor sentence, made doubly poor by the empty "amazing".

— Enoon

  • I can't tell from just this isolated sentence what the writer may have meant.
  • We don't know who proved it, and that makes it a poor sentence, made doubly poor by the empty "amazing".
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3 Answers
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I can't tell from just this isolated sentence what the writer may have meant. We don't know who proved it, and that makes it a poor sentence, made doubly poor by the empty "amazing".
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Thank you enoon Emotion: smile
My text-based practice book gives no explanation for this sentence and just offers it as an example of perfect
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OK, well, there you go. What I wrote before stands.
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