|
REPORTING
VERBS |
|
Sometimes when you are reporting what people said or believe,
you don't know, or
don't want to
say, who exactly the 'people' are. So you use an
impersonal construction: |
|
People believe that hundreds of thousands of birds
died. |
|
EXPRESSING
THE SAME IDEA |
|
The same idea can be expressed using the passive in
two different ways: |
|
A |
subject
+ passive of reporting verb + 'to'
infinitive |
|
Hundreds of thousands of birds
are believed to have died.
|
|
|
|
B |
It
+ passive of
reporting verb +
that
+ clause |
|
It is believed that hundreds of thousands of birds died. |
|
|
|
OTHER VERBS |
|
Some other reporting verbs that can be used in this way
are: |
|
calculate claim consider discover estimate feel
hope know prove report say show think
understand |
|
These are some examples with the patterns or structures
above explained, but changing the reporting verb: |
|
It has been calculated that the water of the River Rhine contains over 2,000
chemicals. |
|
One in three bathing beaches
is considered unfit for swimming. |
|
Fewer than 1,000 blue whales
are said to survive in the southern hemisphere. |
|
It is reported that at least 130,000 dolphins are caught in the nets of tuna fishers every
year. |
|
About 10 million dolphins
are estimated to have been killed in the past 15 years. |
|
Below you can practise this
grammar. |
