Date:  Fri, 11 Apr 1997 09:42:06 -0700
<br>From:  Peter Richardson  prichard[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LINFIELD.EDU 
<br>Subject: Re: Variation in "try"-complements?
<br>
<br>    I don't get "forgot locking the door" at all -- can't imagine what it
<br>  means.
<br> I suspect the meaning is "forgot that I had locked the door" or
<br> "forgot having locked the door." This, of course, is just the opposite
<br> of "forgot to lock the door."
<br>
<br>As long as we're on "forget," how about "remember"? i.e. I remembered
<br>visiting him at home vs. I remembered to visit him at home. (I trust that
<br>no one out there confuses these two, but am certainly willing to be proven
<br>wrong.)
<br>
<br>As a newcomer to this list, I don't know whether the overstated "I would
<br>have liked to have seen him" has come up, or what the opinions (I won't
<br>reveal mine) are about
<br>        I would like to have seen him
<br>            and
<br>        I would have liked to see him.
<br>Some treat these as equals, some don't, and others (most, I guess) just go
<br>for the gusto and combine the two, as in the first example at the
<br>beginning of this paragraph.
<br>
<br>    to see if it has some effect, such as cooling the house down. But I don't
<br>    feel any difference in "He walked up onto the porch and tried [to open |
<br>    opening] the door, but when he found it was locked, turned around and left."
<br>I think either works fine in this larger context, but--as you--can
<br>certainly feel a difference in the shorter phrases between
<br>infinitive-as-object and gerund-as-object. (My formative language
<br>background: northern Illinois)
<br>
<br>Peter Richardson
<br>Linfield College / Oregon 
<br>