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Passive voice with reporting verbs

clauses
indirect speech
infinitive
passive

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:

Past continuous for actions happening over a period of time in the past

clauses
continuous
past
period of time

The past continuous is used to describe actions which continued over a period of time in the past. This period can be expressed with a time expression or a clause with a verb in the past continuous tense. In this case the two actions were happening simultaneously:

Past perfect subjunctive

clauses
past
perfect
subjunctive
unreal situations

The past perfect subjunctive has the same form as the past perfect tense:

had + past participle

It is used in subordinate clauses and expresses unreal past situations:

Preposition + gerund

clauses
gerund

As a gerund clause serves as a noun, it can be used after prepositions:

Present perfect with superlative forms of adjectives

clauses
emphasis
perfect
present
superlatives

The present perfect is used with superlative forms of adjectives to express emphasis:

This is the first time I have been to the Philippines.
This is the worst film I have ever seen.

Present subjunctive

clauses
indirect speech
present
subjunctive

The present subjunctive is identical to the bare infinitive form of the verb in all persons, including the third person singular (no final -s). It is usually used in formal or literary styles:

Reporting imperatives

clauses
indirect speech

reporting verb + somebody + to-infinitive

When we report an imperative sentence or a request, we usually use a to-infinitive structure:

Reporting questions

clauses
indirect speech

When we report questions, there is no inversion of the subject and auxiliary in the reported clause (the word order is the same as in statements) and we do not use a question mark.

Yes/no questions

reporting clause + if/whether-clause (with no inversion)

When reporting a yes/no question, we use if or whether:

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