Impersonal Passive: It Is Said That and He Is Said to Be

Sometimes we want to share an opinion or a piece of information, but the people who hold it are unknown, too many to name, or not important. Instead of People say or Experts believe, we use the passive voice with a reporting verb: It is said that, It is believed that.

This makes writing sound more objective and more formal. It also shows some distance: the writer is reporting what others think, not promising it is true. That is why you see the structure so often in news, academic writing, history books and official reports.

Start with it, add the reporting verb in the passive (is said, was thought, has been reported), and then a full that clause with its own subject and verb. The it does not refer to anything; it just fills the subject position.

The that clause can be in any tense that fits the meaning: It is thought that the plan will fail, It is believed that the plane crashed in bad weather. In this pattern, you can use a wide range of verbs: agree, announce, argue, assume, believe, claim, decide, estimate, expect, fear, feel, hope, know, mention, predict, report, say, suggest, suppose, think and understand.

Here the subject of the that clause moves to the front of the sentence, and the reporting verb agrees with it: The painting is believed, The paintings are believed. Then the verb from the that clause becomes a to-infinitive.

The most common verbs in this pattern are say, think, believe, know, consider, report, expect, understand, allege, claim, estimate and suppose. Not every verb works. Hope, suggest, agree, announce, decide and mention do not take this pattern in the passive, so use pattern 1 with them.

Notice that be supposed to has a special meaning. You are supposed to wear a helmet usually means it is a rule or an expectation, not that people believe it. It can also mean people say: This film is supposed to be very good.

In pattern 2 the reporting verb shows when people say or believe something. The infinitive shows when the reported event happens. If the event happened before the time of reporting, use the perfect infinitive: to have + past participle.

Compare: He is said to live in Rome (people say it now, and he lives there now) and He is said to have lived in Rome as a child (people say it now about an earlier time). For a passive meaning in the past, use to have been + past participle: The letter is believed to have been written by the queen.

The impersonal passive hides the speaker. Active reporting verbs name the speaker and show what kind of statement it was: The police claimed that..., Scientists warned that.... Choose the active form when the source matters, for example in an argument or an essay where you need to give credit.

There is also a third, very informal option: they say. They say it's going to snow tomorrow means the same as It is said that it will snow, but it belongs in conversation. In formal writing, prefer the passive.

You will meet this structure every day in headlines and news reports: Five people are reported to have been injured, The storm is expected to reach the coast tonight. It is also useful in exam essays (IELTS, Cambridge B2 First and C1 Advanced) because it sounds balanced and formal. See how to improve your English writing for more ways to build a formal style.

In speech, people use it less, but phrases like It's said that..., He's supposed to be..., and It's thought that... are still common, especially when passing on information you are not sure about. For other passive structures, see have something done.