Hi, everyone
I found this sentence on the yahoo news.
Remember, it’s better to have loved and lost 99 iPhones than never to have loved at all.
Do you think “have loved” is correct ? why use the present perfect here (does the author indicates hypothetically he just has loved when the girl said yes) ? .
I think it should be “have love” (love is noun) or “be loved” (but the meaning is changed) . Please advise.
the full article can be read here
yahoo.com/tech/man-buys-99- … 40164.html
Yes, of course.
It (to have loved) is not present perfect, but active perfective infinitive.
(Then ‘to have been loved’ is passive perfective infinitive)
Though both forms are non finite in nature, they are associated with past.
I would say that the author means it is better to love even at the cost of 99 iPhones than never to love at all (though you may not be loved in return).
Thanks Anglophile
As a result of a very quick glance, I was so wrong to say it’s present perfect tense. Yes, obviously It’s not.
To compare “to have loved” with “to have love” / “to love” , do they mean the same ?
The active perfective infinitive which you have said, I barely see this kind of usage. Is it common in modern English?
Verbal forms of ‘to do’ like ‘to be doing’, ‘to have done’, ‘to have been doing’ etc are used as necessitated by contexts which might be rare.
Hi, Anglophile
One question left from my previous reply :
To compare “to have loved” with “to have love” / “to love” , do they mean the same ?
If it is used as necessitated by contexts, Could you tell me when we use the active perfective infinitive (In which scenario It should be used) ? In fact, I tried to google it but the result was not much helpful
Teacher Bee, as a native speaker, I think you will have some good advises, I would be glad if you could throw some light on this matter ?
Oh, I’m sorry.
To love/to have love = To show/express/display love
To have loved = To have shown/expressed/displayed love
Here is an example:
I expected you to have understood this difference from my previous reply.
(This means more or less like: I thought that you had understood (would have understood/would understand) this difference from my previous reply.
ADVISE is verb, ADVICE is noun (Uncountable).
Hi, Waiyin Cheng
May I add something that may interest/help you:
1. PERFECT OR PAST MEANING
Perfect infinitives can have the same kind of meaning as perfect or past tenses.
Compare:
1)
a) It's nice [i]to have finished[/i] work. =
b) It's nice [i]that I have finished [/i]work.
2)
(a) She was sorry [i] to have missed[/i] Bill. =
(b) She was sorry [i]that she had missed Bill [/i]
(a) We hope [i]to have finished [/i]the job by next Sunday. =
(b) We hope that we will have finished the job by next Sunday.
4) You seem [i]to have annoyed [/i]Anne yesterday. =
It seems [i]that you annoyed[/i] Anne yesterday.
2 PERFECT INFINITIVE FOR ‘UNREAL’ PAST
After some verbs, perfect infinitives can refer to unreal past situations that are the opposite what really happened.
I meant [i]to have telephoned[/i], but I forgot.
He was [i]to have been [/i]the ambassador, but he fell ill.
[b]3 MODALS[/b]
After the modal verbs [i]could, might, ought, should, would[/i] and [i]needn't,[/i] we often use perfect infinitives to refer to unreal situations.
Did you see him fall? He [i]could have killed[/i] himself. (He did not kill himself.)
You [i]should have written [/i]- I was getting worrried. (The person did not write.)
He [i]needn't have sent[/i] me flowers. (He did send flowers.)
Modal verbs with perfect ininitives can also refer to situations that are not unreal, but uncertain.
She [i]could/should/ought to/may/will/must have arrived[/i] by now .
Thank you for your help, Anglophile.
Hi Foreigner,
I appreciate your help. That’s what I need . It’s very useful. Thank you.
Thank you, Cheng. Well done, Foreigner!
You are welcome! 
Pay attention to what I found in a popular book just now:
I’m sorry that I woke you up.
Sorry + perfect infinitive can be used with the same meaning but sounds more formal:
I’m sorry to have woken you up.
Thank you, T_H_Lawrence!
Thank you. That is correct. I hope Cheng will note it, too.