Examples:
ACTIVE PASSIVE
1 They say (that) the country's fml—> The country is said to be on on the verge of civil war. the verge of civil war.
2 People thought at first (that) fml—> The President was at firstthe President had been thought to have beenmurdered. murdered.
Explanation
a Instead of an active construction with say, thought etc. where they (1) or people (2) refer to no one in particular, we sometimes use a more formal passive construction with the full infinitive. In these constructions the infinitive itself may (2) or may not be (1) in the passive.
b Note (2) that the perfect infinitive (to have been murdered) is used only when we wish to refer to time before that of the introductory verb (thought). This time difference shows in the active as a tense difference.
! Present infinitive (progressive) is used for the following combinations:
Simple Present - Simple Present/Present Progressive
People say she is very clever.
She is said to be very clever.
People say she is doing the right thing.
She is said to be doing ....
Simple Past - Simple Past/Past Progressive
The knew she was clever.
She was known to be clever.
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!! Perfect infinitive (progressive) is used for the following:
Simple Present - Simple Past/Past Progressive
People say she was very clever.
She is said to have been very clever.
People say she was doing her job well.
She is known to have been doing her job well.
Simple Past - Past Perfect/Past Perfect Progressive
They knew she had been married twice.
She was known to have been married twice.
Exercise 1
Transform the following sentences using the passive voice with infinitives:
1. People believe that he was a very good art critic.
2. They knew he was at the meeting.
3. Everybody knew he had had a house in the country.
4. People say that Napoleon died of poisoning.
5. They thought he was hiding in the woods.
6. People knew that he had been very rich.
7. It is believed that the Chinese invented gunpowder.
8. It seems that some burglars broke into your house yesterday.
9. They think he was lying.
10. They say she’s been very ill.
11. They said the president had been shot.
12. It appears they did not detain him.
13. They said the police had wrongly accused him.
14. They expect the plane will be landing soon.
15. They know she was always late for work.
16. We presume she is working illegally.
17. They thought he had been stupid to refuse their offer.
18. It is certain that he didn’t have a valid visa.
19. They knew he’d been married twice.
20. It seems that they have been waiting for over an hour now.
Passive constructions with the infinitive (2)
Example
One can't see a soul in the —> There's not a soul to be seen streets. in the streets.
There is a special type of infinitival construction, using is/was etc. to correspond with can/could in the active, where the passive infinitive is always used.
Exercise
Complete the sentence introduced in italics so that it has the same meaning as the first sentence, as shown in the examples above.
1 People have known Willie stay up working in his office all night./Willie ...
2 They say Willie's father was a chronic work addict too./Willie's father 3.Unfortunately we can't find his secretary any where./Unfortunately hissecretary is ...
3 They say they saw her last in the Red Lion Hotel./She ...
4 They know for certain she was at the meeting./She ...
5 They found she was a very conscientious worker./She ...
6 Last night they stopped Ken on the motorway and made him show hislicence./Last night Ken ...
7 It appears they didn't detain him./He ...
8 They say that both Helen and Sheila were with him at the time./Both ...
10 Some people think he's a dangerous driver./He ...
11 They believe he has had his licence endorsed twice./He ...
12 Many people consider that Willie's father was one of the best artists of hisgeneration./Willie's father...
13 It seems that most of the art critics ignored him./He ...
14 People said that he'd insulted the critics in some way or other./He ...
15 Can one trust such people?/Are ... ?
16 They presumed the man was waiting for them outside./The man ...
17 They couldn't see him anywhere./He was ...
18 They should have made him pay the extra cost himself./He ...
19 One isn't meant to use that kind of paint on walls./That ...
20 One can seldom find real craftsmen nowadays./Real craftsmen are ...
The Passive Voice (3): causatives
Transform the following into passives in which the grammatical subjects are formed from the words in italics. Where clauses are to become the subject (see b above), only that, and not the whole clause, is italicised.
1.I hadn't been with my firm for more than four months when they taught me the elements of marketing and made me a sales representative.
2. They recently increased my salary by thirty per cent. The trouble is that at the same time they reduced my expense allowance by nearly half.
3. Denis says his firm has offered him a job in Singapore, but that he won't take it because someone else has promised him a much better job in Japan.
4. Someone has lent me a book on computers and I now understand roughly how they work. No one had ever explained them to me before.
5. Last year they overtaxed me and now owe me quite a lot of money. I think that until they refund it to me they should pay me interest on it, don’t you?
6. They should do away with income tax altogether. If necessary, they could put up value added tax by way of compensation. But unfortunately you can always rely on this Government not to do the right thing.
7. From the way people are speaking about this Government, one might think that they will not vote it back into power at the next election.
8. However, the proverb 'Better the devil you know than the devil you don't' will probably decide the result in the Government's favour.
9. Over the years people have set up various small, friendly shops in this town, but they seldom survive long because the supermarkets force their prices down and drive them out of business. People have suggested that shop owners should combine in an advertising campaign, but this would probably lead to the supermarkets beating them yet again, this time in a propaganda war.
10. Have people ever stolen your washing when you've hung it out to dry?
11. They have mine. In fact they've been stealing mine a bit at a time for the past month.
12.A couple of weeks ago they confiscated Peter's passport. They won't return it to him now he's been arrested.
13.The latest news is that they've charged him with conspiracy, refusedhim bail, and jailed him. They may forbid you any contact with him before the trial.
14. During the war they used to open our letters and censor them. They told us, of course, that the censors would never disclose or discuss our personal affairs.
15. I thought they refused children admission to horror films, but the other day they allowed my twelve-year-old niece in to see that shocker at the Plaza.
16. Brenda Pearl's father left her a considerable sum of money but crafty lawyers took quite a lot of it off her.
17. They've endorsed Ken's driving licence again, I'm afraid. The next time they catch him for speeding they'll probably disqualify him from driving for a year.
18. My car broke down yesterday and they had to tow it to a local garage for repair. They'll charge me for the repair, of course, but not for the tow, as my membership of the Automobile Club covers me for that.
19. Someone once showed me the way to the railway station, but I have now forgotten it, which is a pity, because people frequently ask me it.
20. Someone once taught me a Finnish song without telling me what it really meant. In fact they played a nasty trick on me, because when I sang it in Finland everyone blushed.
Complete the sentences using the appropriate tense for each verb in brackets:
1. Much of London (destroy) by fire in the seventeenth century.
2. The man who (bite) by a snake (give) a serum.
3. A leader should be a man who can (respect).
4. Many slums (demolish to make way for new buildings.
5. The police already (instruct) to take firm action against hooligans.
6. He (save) from bankruptcy by the kindness of a friend.
7. A cease-fire (expect) (declare) later this week.
8. A great deal of research (do) now into the possible causes of cancer.
9. During the trial the worker claimed he (victimize) by his employers.
10. It (expect) that something (do) by the government to help the people in the flood-stricken area.
11. Three hundred new houses (build) by the end of next year.
12. The witness strongly objected to (examine)
Exercise B: The tenses + multi-word verbs
Complete the sentences with a passive construction, using the verbs given and in a suitable form.
1. The new washing machines (turn out) at the rate of fifty a day.
2. When her husband died, she naturally assumed that she (provide for).
3.We’ve had to move into a hotel while the house we’ve just bought (do up)
4. The employee was assured of his (take on) again as soon as work was available.
5. Richard always (tell off) for careless mistakes nowadays.
6. The agreement had to be (draw up) in the presence of two witnesses.
7. Some heads of government now fear that negotiations (break off) before a settlement (reach).
8. The chairman assured shareholders that the matter of the deficiency (look into) by the time the next meeting (hold)
9. He felt he (let down) badly by his best friend.
10. All the lights must (switch off) by 11 p.m.
NKJO_BYD_ANG