C1 · Lesson 2 · 25 min
Advanced passives and reporting
In this lesson
- I can use reporting passives with accurate time relationships.
- I can form passive infinitives and gerunds when the subject receives an action.
Grammar in context
It is believed that the missing drawing was sold abroad. The drawing is believed to have been sold during the 1980s. Its current owner hopes to be contacted by a museum and remembers being asked about it once before.
Which actions happened before the current belief? Which forms show that the owner receives, rather than performs, an action?
Two ways to report a claim
Reporting passives can distance a writer from a claim without naming the source. It is said that the gallery owns the painting and the gallery is said to own the painting communicate a similar report. They do not by themselves verify the claim or identify who believes it. The reporting verb is passive, while the following clause or infinitive carries the reported information. Choose a structure that makes the relationship between report and event clear.
- It is thought that the tunnel is unsafe.
- The tunnel is thought to be unsafe.
Locate the reported event in time
Use a simple infinitive when the reported situation is simultaneous with the reporting viewpoint, or a suitable future situation follows from context. Use a perfect infinitive for an earlier event: is said to have left. If the reported subject receives that earlier action, use to have been plus a past participle. Keep the tense of the reporting verb separate from the time expressed by the infinitive: was believed and is believed locate the belief differently.
- The scientist is reported to have arrived yesterday.
- The samples are believed to have been damaged in transit.
Passive infinitives and gerunds
A passive infinitive has to be plus a past participle; a passive gerund has being plus a past participle. The preceding verb or preposition helps determine which form is needed. Hope to be invited differs from dislike being interrupted. Use a perfect passive form when an earlier completed action needs to be explicit. Do not add a second agent by mistake: in these examples the grammatical subject is receiving the action named by the passive phrase.
- The applicant hopes to be selected.
- She objected to being photographed without permission.
Common mistakes
Compare the incorrect and corrected forms.
Avoid
The painting is believed to stole last year.
Use
The painting is believed to have been stolen last year.
The earlier action is passive, so use a perfect passive infinitive.
Avoid
He dislikes be interrupted.
Use
He dislikes being interrupted.
Dislike takes an -ing complement; the passive gerund is being interrupted.
Put it into practice
Try the exercises, write your own examples and check your understanding.