to achive or to have achieved

[jasonlulu_2000]

Jane, the first _______ a ranking of world No. 2 in her country, retired last year.
A. to achieve C. to have achieved

I think both answers are right. Am I right?

What is a native's opinion?

Thanks!

Jason

 

[MikeNewYork]

They both work. I prefer C.

 

[tedmc]

C is preferred because you use the perfect tense for an accomplishment.

not a teacher

 

[Raymott]

C is preferred because you use the perfect tense for an accomplishment.

That's not a rule. Where did you come up with it?
"Man first set foot upon the moon in 1969." (simple past)
"I'd be ecstatic if won the Nobel Prize" (conditional)
"Next year I will graduate in Law" (future)
Which of these is wrong or not an accomplishment?
A and C are both right.

 

[tedmc]

Read Topic 3:
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html

I did not say A is not right.

 

[Raymott]

I did not say A is not right.

True, you only implied it. But you can see that your argument is wrong.

 

[tedmc]

I did not imply it was wrong either.
In the context, it is a choice between the infinitive and the present perfect.
Of course the past tense is appropriate where the time is specified.

 

[Raymott]

OK, ted. Let's argue about it. ;-)
They are both infinitives. A is the ordinary infinitive, and C is the perfect infinitive.
OK, even if you didn't imply it (which is false, using the normal understanding of implication), you certainly said "C is preferred because you use the perfect tense for an accomplishment." This is wrong. C may be preferred, but not for reason you've given.

 

[Esredux]

C is preferred because you use the perfect tense for an accomplishment.

not a teacher

Where did you find the present perfect?
The original sentence has only one finite verb which is in the past simple - retired (not the least because of last year)
To have achieved is perfect infinitive. You might want to consult this page.


upd. Or even better, this one.

 

[tedmc]

This is the first time I hear that when you prefer one thing over another, the latter is deemed wrong.;-)
What do you think is the reason C, the perfect infinitive, is preferred then?

 

[Raymott]

This is the first time I heard that when you prefer one thing over another, the latter is deemed wrong.;-)
What do you think is the reason C is preferred then?

I didn't say it was. Mike said he preferred it. I said they are both right.
I was merely conceding that some people might prefer C, since there's only one opinion from a native speaker so far that C is preferred. But the reason that Mike (or anyone else) prefers C cannot be the reason you've given, because the premise is wrong. And maybe C is not even preferred at all.
I'll concede that you didn't say A was wrong.
But more importantly, you've misread the rule on the page you've quoted.

 

[tedmc]

I would very much like to now why C is preferred since you said my premise was wrong.

not a teacher

 

[Raymott]

Your premise is wrong regardless of whether I can give you the right reason why it might be preferred.

But I'll guess. The main clause says that Jane retired last year (past tense). C may be preferred by some because her achievement of the world No 2 ranking occurred at a time prior to the time of her retirement last year, the principle being that the past perfect tense, or the perfect infinitive can be used if something happened before an event (the retirement) narrated in the simple past. But you should ask Mike, since he's the one who preferred it.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Ray, your analysis explains my preference. I usually prefer simple tenses, but in this case, the perfect tense works for me.