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Advanced Passive Voice

1 min
C2
CEFR C2·voice

Formula

It is said / believed / known that...
(less common)

Examples

Positive
She had her house repainted last summer.
Negative
It is not thought that this will succeed.
Question
Will you have the document translated?

Usage

  • •Expressing causation with nuanced meaning
  • •Creating formal, objective discourse
  • •Shifting responsibility or agency in communication

More Examples

  • It is thought that the economy will recover next year.

    "It is thought that" — impersonal passive for reporting

  • He is said to be the best surgeon in the country.

    Personal passive construction: subject + passive + to-infinitive

  • The contract is reported to have been signed already.

    Perfect infinitive in passive reporting structure

Common Mistakes

  • ✗❌ "It is said that he is the best" vs ✓ "He is said to be the best" — both correct, but don't mix the two structures.
  • ✗❌ "The contract is reported to signed" → ✓ "…is reported to have been signed" (need full passive infinitive: to have been + past participle).
  • ✗❌ Confusing "have something done" (causative) with passive: "I had stolen my car" (someone stole it for you?) → ✓ "My car was stolen".

Tips

  • ✓Impersonal passive (It is said / believed / known that...) is common in academic and journalistic writing.
  • ✓Personal passive alternative: "People say he is brilliant" → "He is said to be brilliant".

Advanced Notes

Advanced passive structures are the workhorses of academic and journalistic English. The impersonal reporting passive ("It is claimed that…") lets writers distance themselves from an assertion without naming a source — familiar from scientific papers and news reporting. The personal variant ("She is believed to have left") is equally common and more elegant. The get-passive ("She got promoted") carries informal or event-focused nuance contrasting with the neutral be-passive. Passive infinitives ("The bill is expected to pass") and perfect passive infinitives ("He is reported to have resigned") compress complex temporal relationships into a single clause.

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Compare With

Passive Voice (Basic)(B1)Causative Have(B2)