Why it does not apply the same the rule?

Question

Talking about gerunds I have these 2 sentences:

I don't remember saying that to her
I don't remember having said that to her

So these mean the same

But in these:

I avoid talking to her

I avoid having talked to her

Why do i think the last sentence does not make sense, it's just the verb "remember" that can make the 2 types gerunds mean the same or am i wrong? If im right let me know if there are more verbs that have this quality. Thanks

Answer 1

In fact, the second sentence does not make sense. It's grammatically fine, but semantically, it's nonsense.

The phrase "having talked to her" is set in the past. You can remember something from the past, or you can fail to remember it.

But something in the past either did or did not happen; you can't avoid that fact in the present.