The coach … him to have scored a goal

Analyze the question

The sentence is "The coach ..... him to have scored a goal." It tests your knowledge of tense and the perfect infinitive ("to have scored").

Explain the concept

The perfect infinitive (to have + past participle) shows that the action of the infinitive happened before the time of the main verb. It is commonly used after past-tense verbs such as expected, hoped, intended, wanted.

• "I expected him to have finished by then." The expecting is in the past, and the finishing was supposed to be completed before or by that time.

So the main verb should be in the simple past (expected), and "to have scored" carries the earlier completed action.

Step-by-step solution

1. "To have scored a goal" is a perfect infinitive, so the main verb must set the scene in the past.
2. A. was expecting: the continuous form doesn't fit well with a completed-action infinitive. It is awkward here.
3. B. expected: the simple past works naturally. "The coach expected him to have scored a goal" means the coach thought he would already have scored.
4. C. had expected: the past perfect, combined with the perfect infinitive, piles up two layers of "earlier" and sounds redundant.
5. D. has expected: the present perfect clashes with the past-time sense of the sentence.

Answer: B. expected

Tip: When you see "to have + past participle" after a verb like expect, hope, intend, mean, choose the simple past form of the main verb (expected, hoped, intended). Avoid doubling up with the past perfect.