1. I was sorry to have heard to hear of John's death.
  2. Should you have been willing to go to have gone with us?
  3. The game was intended to be played to have been played yesterday.
  4. I intended to write to have written long ago.
  5. He wished to have met to meet you.
  6. I should have liked to meet to have met you.
  7. Mary was eager to have gone to go.
  8. Nero was seen to have fiddled to fiddle while Rome burned.
  9. Nero is said to have fiddled to fiddle while Rome burned.
  10. This was to be done to have been done yesterday.
  11. They agreed to finish to have finished it yesterday.
  12. He was willing to sing to have sung alone.
  13. He expected to have spoken to speak here to-morrow.
  14. The Civil War is said to cause to have caused more loss of life than any other war.
  15. Blackstone is said to have failed to fail at the practice of law.
  16. It would have been hard to accomplish to have accomplished that result.
  17. He was foolish enough to have spoiled to spoil six negatives.
  18. I wanted to have attended to attend the convention.
  19. It would be terrible to be lost to have been lost in the forest.
  20. We were asked to have waited to wait.
  21. I am eager to have seen to see it.
  22. I am pleased to meet to have met you.

74. Split Infinitives. In the sentence, care should be taken to avoid as much as possible the inserting of an adverb or an adverbial modifier between the parts of the infinitive. This error is called the "split infinitive." Compare the following:

Bad: He seemed to easily learn.
Good: He seemed to learn easily.
Bad: He is said to have rapidly run along the street.
Good: He is said to have run rapidly along the street.

Exercise 55

Correct the following split infinitives:

  1. She is known to have hurriedly read the note.
  2. Mary tried to quickly call help.
  3. He was asked to slowly read the next paragraph.
  4. John attempted to rudely break into the conversation.
  5. The plan was to secretly destroy the documents.
  6. His policy was to never offend.
  7. He wished to in this way gain friends.
  8. He proposed to greatly decrease his son's allowance.

75. Agreement of Verb in Clauses. In a compound predicate, the parts of the predicate should agree in tense; past tense should follow past tense, and perfect tense follow perfect tense. Examine the following:

Wrong: He has tried to do, and really did everything possible to stop his son.
Right: He has tried to do, and really has done everything possible to stop his son.
Right: He tried to do, and really did everything possible to stop his son.
Wrong: I hoped and have worked to gain this recognition.
Right: I hoped and worked to gain this recognition.
Right: I have hoped and have worked to gain this recognition.