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The missing couple are understood to have been living in Panama for the last five years.

Summary 5-20

If we are not sure that the information is 100% correct, we can use the passive to put 'distance' between ourselves and the statement

Distancing

1. We often use seem and appear to give information without stating that we definitely know it is true, and in this way distancing ourselves from the information.

We can use It seems/appears + that + clause, or Subject + seem/appear + infinitive.

It seems/appears (that) there’s a relation between your position in the family and your personality.

The new head of department seems/appears to be quite friendly.

 

2. We use It would seem/appear + that + clause to distance us even further from the information, and to make it sound less sure. This is more formal than It seems/appears ...

It would seem/appear (that) Mr. Young had been using the company's assets to pay off his private debts.

 


Another way of distancing ourselves from the facts, especially in formal written English, is to use the passive form of verbs like say, think, etc. to introduce them. We can use:

1. It + passive verb + that + clause.

Verbs commonly used in this pattern are: agree, allege, announce, assume, believe, calculate, claim, consider, decide, demonstrate, discover, establish, estimate, expect, feel, find, hope, intend, know, mention, plan, propose, recommend, report, reveal, say, show, suggest, suppose, think, understand.

It is said that using a washing machine saves people on average 47 minutes a day.

It has been announced that the President has been taken to hospital.

2. subject + passive verb + to + infinitive.

Most of the verbs listed in 1. can also be used in this pattern except forannounce, decide, mention, propose, recommend, suggest.

The company director is expected to resign in the next few days.

The missing couple are understood to have been living in Panama for the last five years.

We can only use tell in this pattern when it means 'order'. So we can say:

I was told (=ordered) to go with them to the railway station.

but not 'The accident was told (= said) to have happened just after midnight'.

 

3. There + passive verb + to + infinitive.

Compare: It is said that there are more than five million people living in poverty in this country.


Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1320


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