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KHAWLA ALZIOD
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Impersonal passive voice
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I would be grateful if you answered me this question : When changing this sentence into the passive , we say : He says that Adam has finishes this work early . It is said that Adam finishes this work early . Can this sentence be changed into the following ? Adam is said to finish this work .
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7 Dec 2015
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loboclaud
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Hi! From what I know the second sentence is also correct and it is possible to say it. I would just add "early" at the end of the sentence. |
7 Dec 2015
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maryse pey�
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As far as I remember I think that the meaning of the 2nd is different from the 1st.
I understand the 1st as "someone says that Adam finishes this work early" whereas the 2nd means "Someone tells Adam to finish this work early."
What do other colleagues would say ? |
7 Dec 2015
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Gi2gi
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I agree with loboclaud; Both sentences are Ok and mean the same. Maryse, I �m afraid I have to disagree, I think to make the sentence mean "Someone tells Adam to finish this work early" we would say Adam is told to finish this work early. P.S. I have a WS on the topic (called distancing) :) Giorgi
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7 Dec 2015
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almaz
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At the risk of being a wee bit pedantic, Khawla, not only is there not a grammatical relationship between your options, they don�t actually make any semantic sense either: "It is said that Adam finishes this work early". In what possible context for your students would this make sense? In fact, how would you use the other sentences without shoehorning them into some unnatural utterance? Apologies if I�m being a bit thick. Alex
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7 Dec 2015
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Gi2gi
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They say he finishes the work early = = It is said that he finishes the work early = = He is said to finish the work early. |
7 Dec 2015
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almaz
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Context? (related to what is actually written in the OP) |
7 Dec 2015
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Mariethe House
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He says that Adam finished this work ( which work? This(the) work he had to do... the sentence needs some context) early. early being a reference to a completed past , you need the simple past in this sentence
It is said that Adam finished his work early . Can this sentence be changed into the following ? Adam is said to Have finished this work in .....no time at all!. |
8 Dec 2015
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Gi2gi
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Mariethe, I can �t agree that early is a reference to a completed past and you need the simple past in this sentence
:) IMHO, the thing that makes the sentence a bit awkward-looking and lacking a "semantic sense" is the word this. Anyway, to stop splitting hairs here, the OP asked a general question,which was a grammar question about the structure in general, whether a sentence like
It is said that someone does something can be changed like this Someone is said to do something,
And I agree that such paraphrasing is Ok. The lack of "contextual relevance" and "semantic sense" was obviously not something the OP was interested in Giorgi
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8 Dec 2015
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Mariethe House
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@ Giorgi: Shame he wasn �t! I like things to make sense!  gosh! it is complicated to make oneself understood when one is not in direct communication! My hands don �t allow me to be as quick as my brain!  Never mind. Someone more patient than me will explain more thoroughly. The " this" is akward! You can say: He is said to ( usually) finish ( article 0 )work early but this is purely grammatical. never heard it. The common sentence would be: They say he finishes work early. That�s all for mee! Sorry! |
8 Dec 2015
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Gi2gi
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@ Mariethe, I have a creepy feeling that "someone more patient" is in the process of typing a wisely designed post right now! :)))))  Have a good day!  Giorgi |
8 Dec 2015
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