Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Examples of perfect aspect in catenative verb phrases

indicated on catenative verb

indicated on lexical verb

appear to

The furore surrounding Mr Harvey 

had 

He

appeared to have forgotten I was 

appeared to threaten East 17’s 

there. 

(+)

commercial future.

fail to

Sam’s team 

had failed to get through the 

Add the kind of guilt most people will 

first round and faced a humiliating defeat 

feel about 

failing to have provided

at the hands of the African team. 

(+)

enough protection, or being responsible

for an accident, and you have a very

dangerous cocktail of traumas to adjust to. 

get to

By then I 

had got to know David quite 

no

well.

happen to

… Julia, who

had happened to pop in But 

she 

happens to have gone off for 

unexpectedly at precisely the wrong 

the weekend with friends. 

(+)

moment, looking for a packet of 

cigarettes …

manage to

They

had managed to have a quick 

no

coffee together on the last day of term. 

seem to

Robert 

hadn’t seemed to need him of 

It 

seems to have worked. (+)

late, and it had annoyed him.

tend to

It’s something we 

have tended to try

If we’re lucky enough to own our own 

and focus on. 

(+)

homes, we 

tend to have borrowed either

our first mortgage or sometimes a second

against it.