Advanced passive structures in English: the get-passive, it is said that, and passives with two objects
The passive voice guide gives you the machine: be plus a past participle, the tense carried by be, the doer demoted to an optional by-phrase. That is enough to read a newspaper. It is not enough to write one.
Three structures do most of the remaining work, and all three are places where learners either avoid the English entirely or produce something that is not quite a sentence. The get-passive, which is what people actually say. Passive reporting, which is how English passes on a claim it will not stand behind. And the two-object passive, which has a trap in it that almost every learner falls into at least once.
A warning before we start, because it matters more than any of the rules: the second of these three will make you sound like a news bulletin. That is fine in a news bulletin. It is strange at dinner.
The get-passive, and where it stops
Get replaces be in the passive constantly in spoken English.
He got fired. My phone got stolen. The window got broken.
The basic guide notes this exists. What it does not say is when get is the better choice and when it simply will not work.
Get works when something happens. It needs an event: a change of state, at a point in time, usually sudden and often bad. He got hurt. They got caught. The car got damaged. All events.
Get fails with states. The passive of a verb that describes a situation rather than an event refuses get outright.
- Right: The house is owned by a bank. Wrong: The house gets owned by a bank.
- Right: She is known all over the country. Wrong: She gets known all over the country.
- Right: French is spoken here. Wrong: French gets spoken here.
If you can put suddenly in front of it, get is probably fine. If you cannot, use be.
Get is informal. It is right in speech, in messages, in fiction dialogue. It is wrong in an academic essay, a report, or anything with a client's name on it. Nobody writes the samples got heated to 200 degrees.
Some get-passives have frozen solid. Get married, get dressed, get lost, get stuck, get engaged, get changed. These behave like ordinary verbs now, and the be version either means something different or sounds wrong. They got married is the event, the wedding day. They are married is the state.
Passive reporting: two ways to say "people say"
You want to pass on something you have heard without claiming it is true and without naming who told you. English gives you two shapes, built on the same handful of verbs: say, think, believe, know, report, expect, consider, understand, allege and claim.
Pattern one: it + passive + that-clause. The claim comes first.
It is said that he is very rich.It is believed that the fire started in the kitchen.It was reported that the road would close.
Pattern two: subject + passive + to-infinitive. The person or thing comes first.
He is said to be very rich.The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen.The road was reported to be closed.
The two say the same thing. Pattern one is a touch heavier and reads as more formal; pattern two is tighter and is what newspapers reach for, because it lets the subject of the story sit at the front of the sentence where readers want it.
Note the mechanics of the switch. The subject of the that-clause is lifted to the front of the sentence, the reporting verb goes passive, and what is left becomes an infinitive. It is thought that she works in Rome becomes She is thought to work in Rome. Nothing is added and nothing is lost.
Getting the time right
This is where the structure earns its keep, and where most learners stop halfway. The infinitive after the passive carries the time.
| Time of the reported event | Infinitive form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Now / general | to do | He is said to live in Rome. |
| In progress now | to be doing | He is said to be living in Rome. |
| Earlier than the report | to have done | He is said to have lived in Rome. |
| In progress earlier | to have been doing | He is said to have been living in Rome. |
So the suspect is believed to have left the country means the leaving is already over, while the suspect is believed to be leaving the country means it is happening now. One word of difference, a completely different police operation.
The reporting verb itself can also move in time, independently: it was thought that he was rich, he was thought to have been rich. Two clocks, two settings. This is the same machinery as reported speech, just wearing a passive coat.
There is thought to be
There takes the pattern too, which is useful when you are reporting a number or an amount and there is no obvious subject.
There are thought to be about five hundred left in the wild.There is believed to be a second letter.There were said to be problems with the plan.
The verb agrees with what follows to be, not with there: there are thought to be five hundred, there is believed to be a second letter.
Passives with two objects, and the verbs that refuse
The basic guide shows the two versions: They gave me a book gives you I was given a book and A book was given to me. Two points it leaves out.
First, the person-first version is the normal one. I was given a book, she was offered the job, we were told the news, he was sent a letter. The thing-first version (a book was given to me) is grammatical but stiff, and you would usually only choose it when the thing is the topic of the paragraph.
Second, and this is the trap: not every verb allows the person to be the subject. English divides two-object verbs into those that take a person as a real object and those that only ever put the person after a preposition.
| These allow both passives | These allow only the thing |
|---|---|
| give, tell, send, offer, show, pay, ask, teach, lend, promise, buy | explain, suggest, describe, mention, announce, say, report, introduce |
So:
- Right: I was told the answer. Wrong: I was said the answer.
- Right: The rule was explained to me. Wrong: I was explained the rule.
- Right: A new plan was suggested to the board. Wrong: The board was suggested a new plan.
The test is the active sentence. If you can say she told me the answer with no preposition, the person can be the passive subject. If you have to say she explained the rule to me, the person is stuck behind that preposition and cannot move to the front.
Keep the preposition
When a prepositional or phrasal verb goes passive, the preposition stays put, stranded at the end with nothing after it. This looks wrong to speakers of almost every other language, and it is correct.
The poor boy was laughed at by the whole class.The baby is being looked after by her aunt.The problem has been dealt with.A doctor was sent for.
Drop the preposition and the sentence breaks: the boy was laughed by the class is not English. See phrasal verbs for the wider family.
Passive infinitives and passive gerunds
The passive can appear anywhere a verb can, including after another verb.
- Passive infinitive: to be + participle. This work needs to be done today. I want the room to be cleaned. There is nothing to be said.
- Passive gerund: being + participle. I hate being told what to do. She remembers being asked. He left without being seen.
British English also has a neat shortcut with need: this work needs doing, the car needs cleaning. An active gerund with a passive meaning, and it is completely standard.
If what you want is the passive infinitive with a person arranging the job, you have probably reached the causative: I want to have the room cleaned.
A word about register
Be honest with yourself about where these belong. The get-passive is spoken English and looks careless in formal writing. Passive reporting is the reverse: it is the voice of news, law and academic prose, and dropping it is widely believed that into a conversation with a friend is comic.
Nobody says my sister is thought to be arriving at six. They say I think my sister gets in at six. Learn the reporting structures because you will read them constantly and will need them the moment you write anything serious, but do not let them leak into your speech. Fluency is partly knowing which drawer a structure lives in.
Common mistakes
Ranked by how often they actually appear.
- I was explained / I was suggested / I was said. The single most common error in this whole area. Use I was told, or move the thing to the front: it was explained to me.
- Dropping the preposition. He was looked after needs the after. So does dealt with, laughed at, sent for.
- Wrong infinitive for the time. He is said to leave the country last week should be he is said to have left the country last week. Past event, perfect infinitive.
- Mixing the two reporting patterns. It is said him to be rich and he is said that he is rich are both broken. Pick one shape and finish it.
- Get with a state verb. The house gets owned by a bank, the answer gets known. Use be for states.
- Being told vs been told. After a preposition or as a subject you need being: without being seen, I hate being told. Been only follows have.
Practice
Rewrite or complete each sentence. Answers are below.
- People say that he is the best doctor in the city. (Rewrite starting He is said...)
- They believe the thief left the country. (Rewrite starting The thief is believed...)
- Somebody explained the rules to us twice. (Rewrite in the passive.)
- The children are being looked
___by their grandmother. - My phone was broken at the party. (Rewrite with the get-passive.)
Answers: 1. He is said to be the best doctor in the city. 2. The thief is believed to have left the country. 3. The rules were explained to us twice (never we were explained the rules). 4. after 5. My phone got broken at the party.