It Is Said That…

Level C1 · Passive Voice

Passive reporting structures present an opinion or claim without naming who holds it — the classic voice of news reports and academic writing: It is said that the castle is haunted; He is believed to be living abroad. They keep the tone neutral and formal when the source is everyone in general, unknown, or unimportant.

Two equivalent patterns exist for the same idea, built on reporting verbs like say, believe, think, know, expect, report, consider:

• Impersonal it: It + passive reporting verb + that + clause — It is said that he is rich; It was reported that the talks had failed.
• Personal subject: subject + passive reporting verb + to-infinitive — He is said to be rich; The talks were reported to have failed.
• In the personal pattern, a simple to-infinitive refers to the same time as the reporting verb (He is thought to live in Paris), while to have + past participle refers to an earlier time (He is thought to have left the country years ago).

There is/are + said/believed/thought + to be covers claims about existence: There are said to be wolves in these mountains (= It is said that there are wolves...). The same machinery also runs in the past: It was believed that the earth was flat; The earth was believed to be flat.

The most common mistake is mixing the two patterns into one: It is said him to be rich and He is said that he is rich are both wrong — it takes the that-clause (It is said that he is rich), a personal subject takes the to-infinitive (He is said to be rich); the two halves can't be swapped. A second frequent error: using a simple infinitive for an earlier event — He is believed to leave yesterday is wrong; a past event needs to have left.

Look for it is said/thought/believed/reported/expected + that, a personal subject followed by is/are/was/were + said/believed/known + to, and to have + past participle marking that the reported event happened before the report itself.

Practice

It Is Said / He Is Said To · Earlier Events & Mixed Practice