I would love/I would have loved

[vasea1977]

Hi everyone,
Example 1
1. "I would prefer to have travelled by train."
2. "I would have preferred to travel by train."
In these two examples we are talking about an action that did not happen in the past plus regret that this action has not been completed.

How about the following examples:
Example 2
1. "I would love to have met your parents." (sounds o.k. I regret I did not meet them)
2. "I would have loved to meet your parents." (sounds like he/she does not wish to meet these parents any more)

Question:
Sentence N2 from example1 and sentence N2 from example 2, do they convey the same meaning?
Sentence N2 in example N2 sounds rather strange to me, so please let me know if it is possible to say anything like it.
Thank you.

 

[probus]

Hi everyone,
Example 1
1. "I would prefer to have travelled by train."
2. "I would have preferred to travel by train."
In these two examples we are talking about an action that did not happen in the past plus regret that this action has not been completed.

While their meaning may be equivalent, I cannot think of any circumstance in which a native speaker would utter number one. Number two is natural.

How about the following examples:
Example 2
1. "I would love to have met your parents." (sounds o.k. I regret I did not meet them)
2. "I would have loved to meet your parents." (sounds like he/she does not wish to meet these parents any more)

I don't agree with your interpretation of number two. In this case I think numbers one and two have identical meaning.

Question:
Sentence N2 from example1 and sentence N2 from example 2, do they convey the same meaning?
Sentence N2 in example N2 sounds rather strange to me, so please let me know if it is possible to say anything like it.
Thank you.