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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Passive Voice exercise
Passive Voice exercise
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dackala
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Passive Voice exercise
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Hi to all! I am having a problem doing an exercise related to passive voice with reported verbs. The exercise 1. is on p.64 in Headway Advanced English Workbook. It is as follows. Rewrite the sentences using the verbs in brackets in passive constructions: 8. He once considered playing for Manchester United. (report) In the KEY they say: He was reported to have once considered playing for Manchester United. Why did they use the present perfect and why is this sentence so confusing? Is it a mistake? Thanks in advance, Darija
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8 Jul 2022
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cunliffe
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Hi Darija, The sentence is fine, it sounds OK to me. Am I right in thinking you wonder why it isn�t: �He is reported as having once considered playing for Manchester United.� It could be that, as well. I guess they have gone for the present perfect construction because of the presence of �once�. Once locates the action in the past. Well, I am not certain... That�s the best I can come up with! Lynne |
8 Jul 2022
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yanogator
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Hi, Darija, Remember that reported speech moves the tense of the main verb back, so the past verb "considered" moves backward to "have considered". I hope this is helpful. If you have more specific questions about this exercise, please let us know. Bruce |
8 Jul 2022
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FrauSue
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To avoid needing "have", you could reformulate it as: "It is reported that he once considered playing for Manchester United." |
8 Jul 2022
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dackala
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Bruce,one tense back is past perfect,not present perfect. I think that the key is not okay if we want to be technically precise. It sounds okay but if we want to stick to the rules it is not.Once is a word that is not a part of one particular tense but it could be used in past perfect as well or I�m wrong? They did not provide two possible answers in the key. |
9 Jul 2022
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niksailor
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Hi Darya (hope this spelling of your name is right :)),
Well, let me have my say. Guys, correct me if I�m wrong.
With �report� there�s a number of different patterns: �smb is reported TO DO smth� (obviously, on a regular basis), �smb is reported TO BE DOING smth� (now or around this moment, roughly speaking), �smb is reported TO HAVE DONE smth (this one refers to the past). There�s also a case when it�s possible to use Perfect Continuous Infinitive, but let us stick to the point)... However, there�s no pattern where after �smb is reported� Past Perfect could be used. That�s, to my knowledge, out of the question. So, the only way to report that smb DID SMTH IN THE PAST (as in the original sentence to be transformed), we must use the perfect infinitive (or present perfect to put it mildly).
Darya, the key is absolutely correct to me. One more alternative would be �He IS reported to have once considered...�
In a nutshell, no past perfect is used in the patterns with �report�, only present perfect to state that the action was done at some point in the past.
Regards,
Nikita |
9 Jul 2022
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dackala
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Hi Nikisailor, the exercise is not about reporting but passive. If we use one tense in the active sentence,why isn�t the same tense used in the passive? That was my question. Bruce mentioned the fact that one tense back od the past simple is present perfect which isn�t correct. We use the past perfect in that case. |
9 Jul 2022
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cunliffe
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Ah! Were you expecting: it was reported that he had once considered playing for Man Utd?
I don�t know, I might be out of my depth here.  |
9 Jul 2022
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dackala
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Thank you Lynne! I just needed to know if something else is possible |
9 Jul 2022
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L. habach
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"reported to" must be followed by an infinitive "have" and not "had" in this case. The past tense is expressed by "was reported". The sentence is grammatically correct. |
9 Jul 2022
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dackala
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L.habach I�m confused now. I think that no one mentioned here �reported to had�.. |
9 Jul 2022
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