Advanced Passives & Impersonal Reporting (C1/C2)
📌 Lesson Contents
- 🎯 Lesson goal (C1/C2)
- 🌟 Impersonal Passives (It is said that, It is believed that)
- ⏱️ Personal Passives with the infinitive (He is said to be, She is known to have)
- 🔗 Passive verbs of opinion and perception (Alleged, Rumoured, Supposed)
- 🛠️ How to form them
- 🚫 Common mistakes to avoid
- 🎮 1. Gap Fill & Translation Exercises
- 🧩 2. Extra: Sentence Builder
🎯 Lesson goal (C1/C2)
Advanced Passives & Reporting Structures let you distance yourself from the source of information, making your language highly formal, objective and typical of serious newspapers or academic essays (e.g. turning *”People say he stole the money”* into *”He is said to have stolen the money”*). 🚀
🌟 Impersonal Passives (Constructions with “It”)
We use verbs of speaking or opinion (e.g. *say, believe, report, think, expect, allege, know*) after *”It”* to introduce news or general rumours.
| Starting active sentence | Impersonal Passive (Formal) |
|---|---|
| People believe that the economy is recovering. | It is believed that the economy is recovering. |
| Experts reported that the CEO had resigned. | It was reported that the CEO had resigned. |
⏱️ Personal Passives (Subject + Infinitive Structure)
An even more elegant and common alternative is to move the subject of the that-clause to be the subject of the main sentence, followed by the passive and an infinitive (present or perfect).
- People say she is a genius. ➔ She is said to be a genius.
- Police believe he left the country. ➔ He is believed to have left the country. (Perfect infinitive for an earlier action)
🔗 Verbs of opinion and formal shades of meaning
At C1/C2 level we use specific verbs to show assumptions, rumours or formal accusations:
- Alleged / Allegedly: Claimed but not proved (e.g. The suspect is alleged to have stolen the car.)
- Supposed to: Believed to be so, or expected to do something (e.g. The train is supposed to arrive at 5 PM.)
- Reported / Rumoured: Spread by gossip or by news agencies.
🛠️ How to form them
To change an active sentence into a personal passive structure (Subject + Passive + Infinitive), follow this transformation rule:
| Time of the reported action | Infinitive form to use | Practical example of transformation |
|---|---|---|
| Present (same time or future) | To + Base Form (Present Infinitive) | They think he knows. ➔ He is thought to know. |
| Past (earlier action) | To have + V3 (Perfect Infinitive) | They think he stole it. ➔ He is thought to have stolen it. |
| Continuous (action in progress) | To be + -ing (Continuous Infinitive) | They report he is working. ➔ He is reported to be working. |
🚫 Common mistakes to avoid
| C1/C2 Mistake ❌ | Correct ✅ |
|---|---|
| He is said know the truth. | He is said to know the truth. (After the passive we need ‘to’ before the infinitive!) |
| It is believed him to be honest. | He is believed to be honest (or It is believed that he is honest). (Don’t mix the two: no ‘It is believed + object + to be’!) |
| He is rumored to won the prize. | He is rumoured to have won the prize. (For a past event we use the perfect infinitive ‘to have won’!) |
1. Gap Fill & Translation (C1/C2)
Complete the sentences with the correct passive structure or infinitive (e.g. is said to, to have been, it is believed).
2. Extra: Sentence Builder 🧩
Tap the words to move them and build perfect impersonal passive structures!