Passive with Reporting Verbs

1. The structure

When we want to report what people say, believe, think, report, etc., we use an impersonal passive construction.

 

1)​​ it + is/was reported/said + that + clause

 The​​ television reported that a fire broke out in the centre.

 It is reported that ​​ a fire broke out in the centre.

 

2)​​ passive subject + is/was reported + to infinitive  ​​ ​​​​ or

 ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​ passive subject + is/was reported + to have participle

 

 The television​​ reported​​ that​​ a fire​​ broke out​​ in the centre.

 A fire​​ was reported​​ to​​ have broken out​​ in the centre.

 

 

2. Reporting verbs

Examples of reporting verbs we can use:

assume, calculate, claim, consider, discover, estimate, expect, feel, hope, know, prove, report, say, show, think, understand, agree, believe, find, mean, presume, regard, suppose, etc.

 

 Dinosaurs​​ are believed to have died out​​ millions of years ago.

 Mr Smith​​ is expected to arrive​​ shortly.

 The costs​​ were calculated to be​​ over the budget.

 

 

3. Continuous​​ events

Look at the examples:

The neighbours​​ think​​ that​​ Mr. Jack​​ is living​​ in Paris.

Mr. Jack​​ is thought​​ to​​ be living​​ in Paris.

 

The family​​ believed​​ that​​ Frank​​ was working​​ for the CIA.

Frank​​ was believed​​ to​​ be working​​ for the CIA.

 

In these sentences ‘is​​ living’ and ‘was working’ are continuous tenses, therefore, their passive form is ‘to be doing’.

 

 

4. Earlier events

Study these examples:

  • The news​​ reports​​ that​​ the president​​ has been re-elected.

  • The president​​ is reported​​ to​​ have been re-elected.

 

 a) The​​ teacher​​ reported​​ that​​ Kate​​ had cheated​​ in the exam.

 b) Kate​​ was reported​​ to​​ have cheated​​ in the exam.

 

In these examples, ‘has been re-elected’ and ‘had cheated’ are actions which happened before ‘reports’ and ‘reported’ therefore their passive form is ‘to have done’ or ‘to have been done’

 

 

5. Double passive

Look at the example:

  • His friends​​ feared​​ that​​ Joe​​ was kidnapped.

  • Joe​​ was feared​​ to​​ have been kidnapped.

 

As you can see, this sentence contains two passive parts: ‘was feared’ (this is the reporting​​ part) and ‘to have been kidnapped’ (this is the original passive part). This often happens when the original sentence contains a passive part.