Would have liked to V

Question

Various personalities referred to their own use of Latin without giving any
further information: one would have liked to know the exact Latin in which Descartes
talked to Beeckmann on the occasion of their meeting at Breda.

What does the structure would have liked to V mean in the above sentence?

Avangi · Accepted Answer

You can only take this for what it's worth. If one were a student of history or philosophy, and had had the opportunity to be present on that fateful occasion, and to witness the proceedings, It would have been nice to V. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall.

I'll grant you the tenses make little sense, because from any point in time, you mean you'd like to know what he said, not what he is saying.

I would have liked to know whether or not the other driver was / had been drunk. It's now too late for it to be of any use or significance. But at some important point in time following the accident, a time at which the information might still have been useful, I would have liked to know.

Re, "I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall," I guess this has one more time frame than your example. I should have written, "I would have liked to be a fly on the wall."

I think it just means, "[If I could have], I would have liked to V"

If you had known her, you would have liked her. "Her" is the object of the verb "to like."
If you had known her, you would have liked talking with her / to talk with her.". The gerund "talking" or the infinitive "to talk" are direct objects of the verb, "to like."

CalifJim · Answer

sitifanWhat does the structure would have liked to V mean in the above sentence?

would have wanted to know ....
would have found it enjoyable to know ...

It would have been informative to know ...
It would have been interesting to know ...
It would have been amusing to know ...
_____

-- You missed a really good movie. Why didn't you join us?
-- Oh, shoot! I completely forgot about it. I would have liked to see it.

-- And then she accidentally swallowed the frog!
-- Wow! I would have liked to see that!

-- Someone in our town won the state lottery. $18,000,000!!!
-- Gosh! I would have liked to win that!

-- The children sang beautifully in the school pageant.
-- I'm sorry I missed it. I would have liked to hear them.

-- Sorry! All the special cupcakes are sold out!
-- That's too bad. I would have liked to taste one.

CJ

Avangi · Answer

I'm probably going to dig myself in deeper here. The use of "to know" in your example adds another time dimension which I was struggling to deal with analytically, but failed. It may be contextual, but it's another time frame nonetheless. "I want to know you," is present tense. "I want now to know you now." "I want to know what you did," is present and past. "I want to know now what you did then.

This extra contextual tense may or may not have played a part in your question. Perhaps "I would have liked to leave," would suit your purposes. "One would have liked to know what was going on in that meeting," seems more complex. The time frames may be open to interpretation. An "if" clause may well be required. When would one have done the liking, and when might one have liked to do / have done the knowing? And who might "one" be? Was he alive at the time of the meeting, or at any time when the desired information could have been obtained?

If your question is, "What does the phrase mean in this excerpt," then context is certainly important. I don't believe there's a definitive answer.

Would have liked to V

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