To have had

Hello Sir

If you have overlooked my question, this is just a gentle reminder🙏

Hello, Sundaran,

@Sundaran posted:

"Oh, I am so sorry. She is young to have had a failing heart."

What is the meaning "to have had" in the above sentence? In what situations these phrase use in English?

Your question should have been: In what situations is this phrase used in English?

There are adjectives that can be complementized by an infinitive, e.g. I am happy to have a large family (this means: I am happy to have a large family NOW). If you use "have had," you are speaking about the PAST: I am happy to have had a large family (I had a large family when I was a kid, and I am happy about it). The infinitive expresses the reason for being happy, in this case.

The problem with your sentence is that one would normally use "too" before "young" if the infinitive that follows expresses a condition that is not consistent with being young, because "young" cannot, by itself, be the reason for having, or not having, a certain condition, or for having or not having had it. You can say:

- She is too young to have had a failing heart. (She had a heart failure, and it's strange that it should have happened at such a young age.)

Thank you, Gustavo for being so kind to me for having been answered my question.

Dear Gustavo, Why don't we say "She is too young to had a failing heart. (Removed "had"). What is the difference  "to have had" & "to had"?

Thanks in advance🙏

Sundaran

@Sundaran posted:

Why don't we say "She is too young to had a failing heart. (Removed "had"). What is the difference  "to have had" & "to had"?

After "to" you can never find a finite or tensed form of the verb, and "had" is a verb in the past tense. After "to" you can only find an infinitive or a V-ing form (when "to" is a preposition). When you need the infinitive to refer to the past, you have to use the perfect infinitive: have + past participle.

@Gustavo, Co-Moderator posted:

After "to" you can never find a finite or tensed form of the verb, and "had" is a verb in the past tense. After "to" you can only find an infinitive or a V-ing form (when "to" is a preposition). When you need the infinitive to refer to the past, you have to use the perfect infinitive: have + past participle.

Dear Gustavo

Thanks for your reply. Can you elaborate a bit more with some examples about "to have had" as infinitive and when"to" comes as preposition?

Gustavo and David

Would you mind answering on the above my question🙏

"She is too young to have had a failing heart." What I understood this sentence using "to have had" here that she had a heart failure in the past and it is likely to happen again to connection the present her situation.

I rephrase this " "She is too young that she has had a failing heart."

Am I correct Sir? If not please explain in detail?

@Sundaran posted:

"She is too young to have had a failing heart." What I understood this sentence using "to have had" here that she had a heart failure in the past and it is likely to happen again to connection the present her situation.

There is no indication as to the likelihood of her having another heart failure episode. The idea is: She is very young, and being so young it is surprising that she has already experienced heart failure.