Present Tense + Conditional Tense

[harika.apu]

"to have ___ed" is the only past-tense version of "to ___".

hello Ron ,

I came across one of your posts which says that
"To ___" and "to have ___ed" are not verbs, so they don't have "tenses". Only verbs have tenses.
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... 88b3dfac21

If so, then how is "to have_ed" past version of "to_" ?

Can you please clarify ?
Thanks.

Ron i think this clarifies my doubt (taken from same link)

"to ___" —> same timeframe as the larger sentence/context in which it appears

"to have ___ed" —> earlier than the timeframe of the larger sentence/context

E.g.,

You appear to be injured. (It seems that you're injured right now.)
vs.
You appear to have been injured at work. (You may still be hurt; you may be OK now. The injury happened earlier.)

The Neanderthals don't exist anymore—and the main sentence is in the present (it's about what appears to be the case NOW)—so we definitely need "to have ___".

Sorry for troubling you .

[RonPurewal]

that's a correct understanding.

[harika.apu]

that's a correct understanding.

[RonPurewal]

if you have any further questions feel free to ask.

[qianruS779]

Hi Instructors,

I find hard to understand the sentence: the neanderthals appear to have been equipped to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path, because there are two verbs in a single sentence, how to understand it? I chose the answer D, because I thought that appeared is a passive modifier for the neanderthals.

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards.

[RonPurewal]

I like the shirt (that) you bought.

i presume you understand how this sentence works.

the sentence at hand works in the same way (although there's more 'noise' in the sentence).
...(that) the environment could put in their path
...(that) you bought
both of these are modifiers.
i'm sure you are well aware that modifiers can contain verbs.

[RonPurewal]

perhaps you didn't recognize these modifiers without 'that'.
is that the problem? (i'm betting that it is, since everything else here is a basic construction.)

if that's the problem, then you just have to know:
• 'that' can sometimes be omitted from the beginning of a modifier;
• you will NOT have to decide 'omit or don't omit'. (this is a stylistic decision, and the gmat does not test writing style.) rather, your job is simply to recognize that both forms are possible.

[qianruS779]

Hi Ron,

Exactly, I did not recognize the modifier in this sentence.

Thank you very much for your explanation

Best.