Personal Passive
Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.
Example:
- Active: They build houses.
- Passive: Houses are built.
- Active: The professor gave the students the books.
- Passive: The students were given the books.
We very often leave out the by-agent in the passive sentence (here: by the professor).
Impersonal Passive
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.
1. It is said that….
[It + passive verb (be + past participle) + that clause]
Example
- he says => it is said
- It is reported that the defense minister is to resign. = There is a report that the defense minister is to resign
- It is said that women live longer than men. = They say that women live longer than men. (1)
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 (say, think, know, agree, mention...).
2. To infinitive impersonal passives
The subject + passive verb (be+past participle) + to infinitive
Example
- They say that women live longer than men. => Women are said to live longer than men. (2)
- There is a claim that the terrorist is living abroad .= The terrorist is claimed to be living abroad.
In the example (2), 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.
If the tense of the clause is simple past, we change it to present perfect in to infinitive clause:
- People believe the company stole over a million pounds => The company is believed to have stolen over a million pounds
If the tense of the clause is past continuous, we change it to present perfect continuous in to infinitive clause:
They believed they were living in the woods. => They were believed to have been living in the woods.