Word Choice – Verb Complement with ‘Expect’

word-choice

consider the following sentences:

Don't tell anyone about my first job – I never ………….. (fire). I hate being told what to do and I argued with my boss. I was right, but it wasn't worth being fired for.

what verb complement best fills the gap?

expected to be fired?
expected to have been fired?

despite having thought a lot about this, I am yet to find the answer. I can't seem to be able to rationally rule out the second option although I know it sounds wrong.

Best Answer

The perfect aspect (generally expressed with "to have" + past participle) implies that an action occurred at an earlier time than an action described without it. This applies to infinitive phrases, too. Thus, "to have been fired" implies that the action occurred earlier than an action described with "to be fired". Because the firing certainly did not occur before the expecting, I would avoid the perfect aspect and go with the first option: "Don't tell anyone about my first job--I never expected to be fired."

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