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Personal-Impersonal Passive Rule

The document discusses two types of passive constructions: personal passive and impersonal passive. [1] Personal passive involves making the direct object of an active sentence the subject of the passive sentence. [2] Impersonal passive uses "it is said" and involves verbs that do not take direct objects, making the subject of the following clause the subject of the passive sentence. Impersonal passive is less common in English than personal passive but can be used with perception verbs.

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8K views2 pages

Personal-Impersonal Passive Rule

The document discusses two types of passive constructions: personal passive and impersonal passive. [1] Personal passive involves making the direct object of an active sentence the subject of the passive sentence. [2] Impersonal passive uses "it is said" and involves verbs that do not take direct objects, making the subject of the following clause the subject of the passive sentence. Impersonal passive is less common in English than personal passive but can be used with perception verbs.

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Πεγκαζους Μονολιθ
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Need Personal /Impersonal Construction

1) Personal Passive
When we put an object of an active sentence into passive, it becomes subject of the passive sentence. Active voice: The professor explained the students the exercise. The professor explained the exercise to the students. Passive voice: The students were explained the exercise. The exercise was explained to the students. We sometimes use a pronoun for "the students" or "the exercise" in its subject form (here: they/it). Passive voice: They were explained the exercise. It was explained to the students. We very often leave out the by-agent in the passive sentence (here: by the professor).

2) Impersonal Passive - It is said ...


The phrase It is said ... is an impersonal passive construction. We often use it in news. Passive sentence - version 1: It is said that children are afraid of ghosts. Passive sentence - version 2: Children are said to be afraid of ghosts. The correct active sentence would be: Active sentence: People say that children are afraid of ghosts. Personal Passive simply means that the object of the activesentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So every verbthat needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive. Example: They build houses. Houses are built.

Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal construction therefore this passive is called Impersonal Passive. Example: he says it is said Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German, Latin). In English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know). Example: They say that women live longer than men. It is said that women live longer than men. Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common. Example: They say that women live longer than men. Women are said to live longer than men. [To form Impersonal Passive] the subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of perception is put into passive voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive construction with 'to'(certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped). Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.

Need – Personal /Impersonal Construction 1) Personal Passive When we put an object of an active sentence into passive, it bec
Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can

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