To have done vs to do
1. To have launched the spaceship by the end of next year, we have to start calculating on how to send it to Mars exactly.
2. To launch the spaceship by the end of next year, we have to start calculating on how to send it to Mars exactly.
?3. To have sent the astronauts to Mars, the spaceship should be launched by the end of next week.
4. To send the astronauts to Mars, the spaceship should be launched by the end of next week.
5. To have sent the astronauts to Mars by the end of next week, the spaceship must be made completely by tomorrow.
6. To have sent the astronauts to Mars by the end of next week, the spaceship should have been made completely yesterday.
I'm curious to know which sentences are correct English. It's okay to include acceptable sentences although they don't sound very natural.
To me, only 1, 4, 5, 6 seem to be correct.
I don't think 2 and 3 are correct.
As for 2, because of "by", I think "have" should be included like in 1, and as for 3, since there aren't any words for indicating when to send them, such as "by + time", it seems to be wrong to say "To have sent" in 3.
Am I right?
(Please focus on the correctness of the use of "to have done" and "to do" in the sentences even if there're some unnatural sentences)
Thank you very much for your help!
Top answer
fire1 (Please focus on the correctness of the use of "to have done" and "to do" in the sentences even if there're some unnatural sentences) This is easy for a native speaker to answer. All of the examples that start with 'to have' are unusable. There's nothing wrong with a perfect infinitive in itself, but they are not used as you did here, as an infinitive of purpose.
- fire1 (Please focus on the correctness of the use of "to have done" and "to do" in the sentences even if there're some unnatural sentences) This is easy for a native speaker to answer.
- All of the examples that start with 'to have' are unusable.
- There's nothing wrong with a perfect infinitive in itself, but they are not used as you did here, as an infinitive of purpose.
- You need the simple infinitive in all of them, as in 2 and 4.
- The tenses you use in the rest of the sentence do not affect this choice.
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fire1(Please focus on the correctness of the use of "to have done" and "to do" in the sentences even if there're some unnatural sentences)
This is easy for a native speaker to answer.
All of the examples that start with 'to have' are unusable. There's nothing wrong with a perfect infinitive in itself, but they are not used as you did here, as an infi
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