Passive voice with reporting verbs

If we want to avoid mentioning the generalised agents we, they, people, everybody, one etc. with reporting verbs, we can use the following passive patterns:

1. it + passive reporting verb + that-clause

   In this pattern, the generalised agent + active reporting verb is replaced with it + passive reporting verb:

   Everybody knows that my grandfather likes red wine.
   It is known that my grandfather likes red wine.

2. subject + passive reporting verb + to-infinitive

   In this pattern we start with the subject of the reported clause, which is followed by the passive reporting verb and the to-infinitive form of the verb in the reported clause:

   Everybody knows that my grandfather likes red wine.
   My grandfather is known to like red wine.

   The reporting verb (is known) is in the same tense as it was in the active sentence (knows). The type of to-infinitive we use (to like) corresponds to the temporal relationship between the action of reporting and the reported event. This temporal relationship can be of two basic types:

   • The reporting and the reported event happen simultaneously (as in the example above).
   • The reported event happens before the reporting.

The following table shows examples of reporting verbs which can be used with the patterns above: