[Grammar] to have cheated or to cheat

[Oceanlike]

To synthesise the following sentence, I used the present perfect tense “have cheated”. In the context, it sounds weird to me to use simple past tense. I’m unsure. Kindly help me to understand the reason for the correct answer.

Question: Addy cheated in the examination. It was very silly of him.

My answer: It was very silly of Addy to have cheated in the examination.

Thank you! :-D

 

[emsr2d2]

Your sentence is correct. You could also say "It was very silly of Addy to cheat in the examination". It is clear that the cheating happened in the past from the use of "It was" at the beginning. However, I prefer your sentence.

 

[Matthew Wai]

the present perfect tense “have cheated”.

I would call 'to have cheated' the perfect infinitive, but I am not a teacher.

 

[Oceanlike]

@Matthew: What is the perfect infinitive?

Thank you!

 

[Matthew Wai]

I consider 'to have + past participle' to be the perfect infinitive, but I am not a teacher.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/perfect-infinitive-with-to-to-have-worked

 

[Tdol]

It is.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"He was sorry to leave her"

He felt sorry when he left her.

"He was sorry to have left her".

He didn't feel sorry when he left her, but he felt sorry afterward.

It was very silly of Addy to have cheated in the examination.

Addy was not silly when he cheated, but he became silly afterward.

Please correct me if I am wrong, as I am not a teacher.