prefect infinitive

[angelene001]

I've got a problem with this sentence:

I watched TV yesterday.

If I want to use 'He claimed', which infinitive should I use?
1.He claimed to watch TV yesterday.
or
2.He claimed to have watched TV yesterday.

And similar situation with this one:
They thought that he watched TV.
1.He was thought to watch TV.
or
2.He was thought to have watched TV.

Is present infinitive used only for future simple, future continuous and present simple, present continuous?
Or can we use it for past tenses to show that the tense of reporting verb (past simple) is the same as the tense of the infinitive?

[bhaisahab]

I've got a problem with this sentence:

I watched TV yesterday.

If I want to use 'He claimed', which infinitive should I use?
1.He claimed to watch TV yesterday.
or
2.He claimed to have watched TV yesterday.

And similar situation with this one:
They thought that he watched TV.
1.He was thought to watch TV.
or
2.He was thought to have watched TV.

Is present infinitive used only for future simple, future continuous and present simple, present continuous?
Or can we use it for past tenses to show that the tense of reporting verb (past simple) is the same as the tense of the infinitive?

#2 in both cases.

[angelene001]

I understand there is no situation when we can use present infinitive for past tense.

What about the rule that perfect infinitive shows that the action of the infinitive happened before the action of the verb?
It doesn't work in this example:

They thought that he watched TV.

2.He was thought to have watched TV.

Here both actions happened at the same time.

Or maybe the rule that the perfect infinitive refers to the past is more important.

[TheParser]

I understand there is no situation when we can use present infinitive for past tense.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Angelene:





I found your question very interesting, for this matter confuses me, too.

I have found some information that may interest you. Every word is an expert's -- not mine!

1. The scholar writes: "Probably teachers are right to insist on the Choice English usage -- present infinitive for contemporaneous time, perfect infinitive for previous time."

a. That expert says that one should say, "I intended to stop in to see you when I was in Kalamazoo."

b. That expert says that "General English often blurs the time distinction" by saying "I intended to have stopped in to see you when I was in Kalamazoo.


The expert was Professor Paul Roberts in Understanding English (1954), pages 203 - 204.

[5jj]

The expert was Professor Paul Roberts in Understanding English (1954), pages 203 - 204.

I think that, if we are trying to establish what is acceptable today, we probably need to look for back-up in books that are less than 58 years old.