I would have liked to have seen that/ or I would like to have seen that.

[Detlef]

Hi

What is the difference between these two sentences?

- I would have liked to have seen that.
- I would like to have seen that.

Is it also possible to say: 'I would have cancelled my trip to have seen that'

For Alan
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The Importance Of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) I just love him!

[Mister Micawber]

- I would have liked to have seen that.-- An unnecessary 2nd present perfect, but the impossible liking is in the past.
- I would like to have seen that.- The possible liking is now or in the future.

I don't like your 3rd sentence for the same reason I don't like your first: 'I would have cancelled my trip to see that' is sufficient.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Detlef]

Thanks Mister Micawber, but why is there an 'impossible liking' in the first sentence?
And what exactly do mean with 'possible liking' in the future? In that case, and I could be wrong I would say:'I should like to see that', if it is in the future.
I know I have to learn a great deal about the English language, but I once heard, 'I would have cancelled my trip to see what she did', perhaps the actress who said the line was wrong, because I would say: 'What a pitty I didn't see it.'
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The Importance Of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) I just love him!

[Mister Micawber]

...why is there an 'impossible liking' in the first sentence?-- Because the speaker did not see it.

And what exactly do mean with 'possible liking' in the future?-- The speaker may or may not see it.

I suppose it would have been better to say 'possible/impossible seeing', but the liking depends on the seeing, and that is the verb upon which probability is acting grammatically here.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Detlef]

Thank you again, Mister Micawber. I am an English teacher myself from Belgium and whenever I discover something new about the English language, I'd like to get to the bottom of things. Over here, students often have the impression that English is such an easy language, but actually it's not. They think it's much easier than French or German. Reason? They listen to English songs, watch English television, etc... However, I can't blame them for that, because this is one of the ways you can possibly improve your English. I myself am not ashamed to ask someone else's opinion; as Kant once said: 'That which does not kill us makes us stronger.' Yet, I do have one more question about what I heard on television. The dialogue (in Dynasty)between two people goes as follows:

Adam: Mother, yesterday Krystle started throwing plates at the guests.
Alexis: Really? Well, I would have cancelled my whole trip to have seen that. (Alexis was abroad the day Krystle started throwing plates at the guests)

Is the sentence of Alexis (nasty Joannie) a correct one, I mean, can you complement 'I would have cancelled my whole trip...' with a perfect infinitive? Moreover, Alexis was abroad, is it then correct to say: 'I would have cancelled my whole trip.'?

The reason why I'm asking this, is, that when I watch English or American films I sometimes hear mistakes, like for instance: 'She doesn't look well, isn't it?' Whereas it should be: 'She doesn't look well, does she?' I believe it's called reversed polarity.
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The Importance Of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) I just love him!

[Mister Micawber]

can you complement 'I would have cancelled my whole trip...' with a perfect infinitive? -- In careful writing, no; it is poor style. But I am aware that many native speakers do. Almost anything can happen in conversation, many things that are inappropriate to teach foreign learners who will be required to pass language proficiency tests. The oddities of the spoken language can be picked up in situ.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Detlef]

Excuse me, but what is 'in situ'?
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The Importance Of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) I just love him!

[Coconut01]

As I teach it:

I would like to go.
I would like to have gone.

Both are spoken form the "present standpoint". The first one however concerns future preference, the second one expresses our present wish concerning something that did or didn't happen. The second sentence equals "I wish I had gone"

Then come the sentences spoken from the "past standpoint":

I would have liked to go.
I would have liked to have bought it.

The fist one expresses our past wish we had "then" and the infinitive "to go" means that both the wish and what I wished were taking place on the same time frame. It is the same as saying "I wished I could go" or "I wished I went", "I wished I were going with them".
The second sentence also expresses past wish, but about something that happened or didn't happen earlier than the expressed wish. It is the same as saying "I wished I had bought it"

Hope you find it useful.

Regrads to all English fans.