299. Infinitives after a Passive Verb

.

Some passive verbs allow a non-purposive “to” verb after them, but many do not

OCCURRENCE OF POST-PASSIVE INFINITIVES

Infinitive verbs (with to) are very often usable directly after the passive form of another verb, like this:

(a) Taxes may be increased TO CONTROL inflation.

(b) Life is known TO HAVE ORIGINATED in the ocean.

These two uses are not the same: the infinitive in (a) expresses a purpose (see 60. Purpose Sentences with “For”), whereas that in (b) does not. Infinitives that express a purpose are the more widely-usable kind directly after a passive verb. Most passive verbs allow one unless they are of the type, like BE PUT and BE SITUATED, that are grammatically incomplete without a directly-following adverb expression like outside or in town (these verbs still allow a following purpose infinitive, but not directly after them).

Non-purpose infinitives, by contrast, are not so freely usable after passive verbs. They tend to be possible only after a small number of passive verb types. It is these verb types and the verbs within each that I wish to consider here, my belief being that awareness of these may increase general facility in using non-purpose infinitives after a passive verb.

It is important here to have a true understanding of passive verbs. The problem is that adding -ed (or irregular equivalent) to the base form of a verb, either alone or combined with BE, does not always create the participle form that characterises passive verbs: it is also a way of making adjectives.

Common adjectives made in this way include advanced, confused, inclined, interested, married, pleased and satisfied. The ways they differ from identically-spelt participles are considered in depth in this blog in 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending. Passive-like adjectives of this kind are excluded from the following discussion. For the ways they combine with infinitives, see 83. Adjectives before a “to” Verb.

.

TYPES OF POST-PASSIVE INFINITIVE

1. Still Usable when the Passive Verb is Active

An example of this type is:

(c) Passengers are advised to wear a seatbelt.

If the passive are advised here is used in its active form (e.g. We advise…), passengers must be its object, and the infinitive to wear… remains possible, positioned after passengers.

Not all passive verbs before an infinitive can be changed into the active voice in this way. For example, sentence (c) beginning Passengers are said to… could not become *We say passengers to…. The active voice of the verb SAY generally disallows a following object + infinitive.

Verbs that can, like ADVISE, go before an infinitive regardless of whether they are active or passive generally correspond to the ones listed in this blog in 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive. However, the correspondence is not exact. There are 12 meaning categories listed in that post. The verbs in all except one are mostly similar to ADVISE. Examples are:

“commanding” (e.g. ORDER, INSTRUCT, TELL)
“requesting” (e.g. ASK and INVITE but not WOULD LIKE)
“persuading” (e.g. CONVINCE, URGE)
“needing” (e.g. COUNT ON, TRUST)
“anticipating” (e.g. EXPECT and TIP, but not FOR verbs like WAIT FOR)
“causing” (e.g. ALLOW, ENABLE, INDUCE)
“recruiting” (e.g. APPOINT, CHOOSE, NAME)
“believing” (e.g. BELIEVE, CONSIDER, SUGGEST: see #2 below)
“establishing” (e.g. DECLARE, IMPLY, PAINT but not DEFINE, IDENTIFY)
“teaching” (e.g. COACH, HELP)
“sensing” (e.g. FEEL, OBSERVE, SEE but not WATCH, LISTEN TO)

The one meaning category among the 12 that seems less able to be expressed in the passive voice before an infinitive is “desiring” (e.g. DESIRE, PREFER). For example, is preferred to go… seems unlikely.

Most verb types outside those listed above need any verb after their object to be in a form other than the infinitive. For example, KEEP requires a verb with -ing instead (see 232. Verbs with an Object + “-ing”). After the passive of such verbs, the same alternative to an infinitive is often necessary, but with some exceptions, as indicated below.

There are even some verbs in the above meaning categories that cannot have an infinitive after either their active or passive form, for example the command verbs DECREE and DEMAND, and the request verb PRAY. The anticipation verbs ANTICIPATE, FORECAST, and FORESEE are unusual in that their passive form requires any following verb to be an infinitive (X was anticipated to fall), but their active requires it to have -ing or follow that (…anticipated X falling).

.

2. Within an Indirect Statement

Consider this:

(d) People say (that) films influence behaviour.

Because many writers dislike having this very general use of people as the subject of a verb, there is a tendency to avoid it by making the verb passive. However, the normal way of doing so – making the verb’s object into its subject – is also unattractive when the object starts with that since most English users have a general reluctance to give verbs a long subject of the kind typified by that statements.

A common solution to this problem is to start with it (It is said that…: see 103. Representing a Later Statement with “it”). However, many speech and thought verbs like SAY offer the alternative of starting with the subject of the that statement, in this case films:

(e) Films are said to influence behaviour.

It will be seen that starting in this way requires the verb of the indirect statement to become an infinitive after the passive are said. Mixing up that and to can be a problem for some inexperienced English users (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #6).

These two different ways of linking an indirect statement with a passive verb prompt the question of when each might be preferable. I think that, as with most seemingly synonymous structures, a difference does exist. Having the subject of the indirect statement at the start of the sentence instead of it, as in (e), commonly marks it as the less informative part of that statement, thus making the other part (influence behaviour) the focus of the sentence. For a fuller discussion of word order determining informational prominence, see 156. Mentioning What the Reader Knows Already.

English speech and thought verbs are very numerous (see 150. Verb Choices with Reported Speech). However, not all of them are usable like SAY in (e). Usability seems to require a parallel ability to introduce indirect speech with that. There are plenty of speech and thought verbs – CRITICISE, DEFINE and PRAISE, for example – that lack this ability (see 279. Grammatical Differences between Citation Verbs), and none of them seem able when passive be followed by an infinitive.

Available that verbs include ACKNOWLEDGE, *AGREE, *ARGUE, ASSERT, ASSUME, BELIEVE, *CLAIM, CONSIDER, EXPECT, FEEL, GUARANTEE, HOLD, IMPLY, *INDICATE, KNOW, *NOTE, OBSERVE, PREDICT, *SAY, SEE, *SPECULATE, *STATE, *SUGGEST, SUPPOSE, SUSPECT, THINK and UNDERSTAND. For an example of ARGUE in the passive before an infinitive see 312. Grammar Command Test 3, #f.

Note that the tendency of passive + infinitive reporting verbs to be alternatively usable with that does not mean that all that-allowing verbs have both uses. Two common exceptions are EXPLAIN and MENTION. It may be significant that the verbs listed above tend to be opinion-implying (see 107. The Language of Opinions).

Many verbs listed above are also usable in the active voice with a following object + infinitive, so that they additionally belong to the first category described above (exceptions are marked *). However, the infinitives that they can accompany when active will usually, it seems, be just to be or to have.

.

3. Omissible or Replaceable by “As”

Sometimes, to be after a passive verb can be dropped or replaced by as. Consider this:

(f) A nod is … a sign of consent.

Different passive verbs have different possibilities. After judged in (f), the possible continuation is either to be a sign or simply a sign (see 192. When BE can be Omitted, #2). After acknowledged, the continuation is either to be a sign or as a sign. And after argued, only to be a sign is possible.

Common verbs in each of these categories are as follows:

VERBS LIKE JUDGED: considered (= believed), declared, found, thought. In addition, appointed, elected, named (= nominated) and nominated allow a following to be not just to be added or dropped, but also to be replaced by as (see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #2). Assumed and believed sometimes drop to be before an adjective (e.g. is believed dead).

VERBS LIKE ACKNOWLEDGED: chosen, depicted, established, estimated, evaluated, identified, intended, perceived, pictured, portrayed, rated, recognised, regarded, seen, suggested, trained, understood, visualised.

VERBS LIKE ARGUED: asserted, claimed, demonstrated (= proved), expected, felt, found, held, imagined (= believed), known (= proven), maintained (= argued), predicted, said, shown, suggested (= implied), suspected, taken (= assumed), understood (= believed).

A seeming complication in this area is the existence of verbs whose passive form allows a following as but not to be. Common ones are categorised, defined, described, criticised, highlighted, imagined (= pictured), known (= perceived), named (= identified), suggested (= proposed), taken (= used), thought of, treated, understood (= interpreted) and viewed (see 92. Verbs with an Object + “as”). However, few of these are that-allowing, so their inability to be followed by any kind of infinitive is not really surprising.

A more real complication is that some verbs allow either as or to be after their passive form, but with different meanings. They include:

Considered: see 48. Tricky Word Contrasts 1, #3
Imagined + as = visualised; + to be = believed
Known: see 92. Verbs with an Object + “As”, examples #h and #i
Suggested + as = proposed; + to be = implied
Taken: see 264. Variations in the Use of TAKE, #17
Understood + as = interpreted; + to be = believed

.

4. Following “Supposed”

The meaning of BE SUPPOSED can be confusing (see 81. Tricky Word Contrasts 2, #3). A verb of French origin (see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary), it only sometimes has the “believed” meaning of its French counterpart. It could be understood in this way if, for example, supposed replaced said in sentence (e) above. When meaning “be believed”, BE SUPPOSED fits into both the first of the categories described above (usable in the active voice with an object + infinitive) and the second (facilitating an indirect statement).

However, BE SUPPOSED TO can also mean “have the non-fulfilled function of…”. If used, for example, in sentence (f), it could indicate that a nod does not always function as a sign of consent. What is special about BE SUPPOSED with this use is that it fits into none of the above categories. It is not usable in the active voice (this being reserved exclusively for the “believed” meaning); it cannot facilitate indirect speech because it is not a speech or thought verb; and it cannot be used with as instead of to.

298. Grammar Meanings without Grammar

.

Meanings expressed by grammar can sometimes be expressed with vocabulary instead

THE IDEA OF GRAMMATICAL MEANING

Grammar has meaning just as ordinary words do. For example, the grammatical option of placing the verb BE before its subject conveys the meaning of “question”, not adding -s to a noun makes the noun represent something singular, and using the word than – a kind of word that many linguists call a “grammatical item” – helps to express the idea of “relative difference” (see 216. Indicating Differences).

An interesting observation about grammatical meanings in any particular language is that they are not all likely to keep their grammatical nature when translated into another language – some instead have to be expressed with ordinary vocabulary. This is a well-known need, for example, with translations into any form of Chinese, a language that possesses far fewer grammar-based meanings than most. In English, it is a need when translating the idea of an “indirect” object from the ancient European language Latin: where Latin gives this meaning to nouns through a special ending, English does so through to or for in front (see 126. Verbs with an Indirect Object).

Recognising that grammatical meanings of or within words do not have to be conveyed by a grammatical form quickly leads to wondering how easily ordinary English words can replace English grammatical forms. If this is widely possible, it would be especially useful for paraphrasing for such purposes as avoiding difficult grammar in speech or reporting the content of written academic sources (see 80. How to Paraphrase).

My deliberations on this topic suggest that paraphrasing grammatical forms with ordinary words is possible sometimes in English but not always. Two paraphrasable categories are presented elsewhere within these pages in 65. Verbs that Mean “Must” or “Can” and 205. Paraphrasing Prepositions with Words of Other Kinds. Here, I consider some non-paraphrasable categories, along with further paraphrasable ones.

.

NON-PARAPHRASABLE GRAMMATICAL FORMS

1. Verb Tenses

It is easy, in searching for words that mean the same as English tense forms, to find numerous possibilities. Because tenses tend to be time-focussed, adverbs in particular come to mind. The following are common ones corresponding to various meanings of major tenses (for more examples, see 227. Time Adverbs):

PRESENT SIMPLE: currently, now, today, always, generally, typically

PRESENT/PAST CONTINUOUS: continually, continuously, concurrently, regularly, repeatedly, simultaneously, still

FUTURE: henceforth, hereafter, imminently, shortly, soon, tomorrow

PAST SIMPLE: ago, formerly, historically, once, subsequently, then, yesterday

PRESENT PERFECT: already, before, just, lately, recently

Unfortunately, tense-related words such as these are not alternatives to a tense but reinforcements. English verbs cannot have one of them instead of their tense marker. Although there are verb forms that do not show a tense (the “non-finite” participle and infinitive forms) combining one of those with an adverb like the above does not create an alternative to tense usage: the verb remains an infinitive or participle. For more on participles versus tenses, see 52. Participles Placed Just after their Noun.

Yet tense-form replacement is not 100% impossible. Verbs like PROMISE and PREDICT, for example, often allow removal of will – e.g. I will pay can become I promise to pay or I promise payment; and X will… can become X is predicted to…. These possibilities exist because the very meaning of such verbs implies the future (see 316. Future Verbs without “Will” or “Shall”). 

.

2. Plural Meaning of Nouns

The idea of “more than one” that many English nouns express grammatically with -s is again carried by numerous ordinary words that can accompany -s, but again none of them can replace it. As well as number adjectives (except one), familiar words of this kind include no, enough, both, some, a few, several, many, numerous, these, those and all.

Although a countable noun without -s will be understood as plural after any of these words, it will also be recognized as ungrammatical (see 204. Grammatical Agreement).

.

3. Comparative Adjective Forms

Seeming alternatives to -er or more added to an adjective include the adverbs comparatively, in comparison and relatively and the prepositional expressions compared to and in comparison with. The adverbs do sometimes appear able to replace their grammatical counterparts. For example, the statement Oil is heavier (with than… left unsaid through being obvious from the context) is easily paraphrased as Oil is relatively heavy. However, if the than… part has to be said, only the comparative adjective is possible.

The prepositional expressions seem more able to replace -er or more, but they still have some limitations They need the than part to be explicit, but without than:

(a) Oil is heavy compared to water.

Surprisingly, the removal of the need for a comparative + than in such sentences does not always make things easier: including a comparative alongside compared to is a fairly common error (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #5).

A further limitation of compared to is that it is probably not a true paraphrase of comparative forms. Instead, it suggests that the meaning of the relevant adjective or adverb (heavy above) is not a typical feature of the noun idea it describes (oil: see 221. Multi-Word Prepositions, #3).

.

REPLACEABLE GRAMMATICAL FORMS

Grammatical forms that can fairly easily become ordinary words seem more numerous than those that cannot.

4. “Not”

The meaning of not can be expressed with either grammar or ordinary vocabulary in numerous ways (see 310. Aspects of Negation). The vocabulary includes:

OTHER ADVERBS: never, rarely, scarcely

PREFIXES: unacceptable, incompetent, dislike, non-stop, apolitical (see 146. Some Important Prefix Types)

SUFFIXES: useless, sugar-free

VERBS: AVOID, DENY, REFUSE, FAIL, NEGLECT, MISS, LACK, EXCLUDE

ADJECTIVES: absent, bogus, debatable, erroneous, exceptional, false, mythical, negative, negligible, negligible, questionable, wrong (see 7. Hidden Negatives)

NOUNS: a lie, a falsehood, an error, a mirage

OTHER: instead of

.

5. Possessive Apostrophes

A well-known alternative to these is of, as in the ideas of Einstein meaning Einstein’s ideas. If this of use is still considered rather grammar-like, an occasional equivalent that is less so is a participle phrase like belonging to or originating with (see 295. Options in Saying Where, #2).

Another way to avoid a possessive apostrophe is simply to drop it. For example, blacksmiths’ tools and Sydney’s climate still express their meanings acceptably as blacksmith tools and the Sydney climate. Note, though, that such changes often bring a new article requirement, such as the added the before Sydney above. The reason is that the absence of -’s causes the second of two successive nouns instead of the first to determine the article, and climate needs the (see 47. Article Errors with Proper Nouns, third section).

Yet replacing a possessive apostrophe in either of the above ways is not always possible. Sometimes, a preposition other than of is necessary. For example, the equivalent of a visitors’ entrance is usually an entrance for visitors. Often, a dropped -’s is either ungrammatical or different in meaning. The former is the case with, for example, France’s wines, Fathers’ Day, women’s rights and Newton’s time. The latter is illustrated by the contrast between a weekend’s work (= “work lasting a weekend”) and weekend work (= “work done at weekends”). For an in-depth discussion, see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings.

.

6. Passive Verb Forms

The most widely-mentioned way of avoiding a passive verb form is by changing its subject into the object of the verb’s active form. However, this is not an exact paraphrase because it changes the way the sentence relates to its neighbours (see 27. How to Avoid Passive Verbs).

There are various alternative strategies, though none seems possible in every case. Probably the most useful is exchanging the verb for one whose active form means the same as the unwanted passive, so that word-order changes become unnecessary. Such verbs are surprisingly numerous, e.g.:

BE FILLED WITH – CONTAIN
BE AFFLICTED BY – SUFFER
BE SENT – GO
BE LENT – BORROW
BE INFORMED BY – UNDERSTAND FROM
BE CAUSED BY – RESULT FROM
BE OWNED BY – BELONG TO

For a more in-depth survey, see the above-mentioned post.

Sometimes, a passive verb with can be (e.g. can be divided) is replaceable by BE and a related -able or -ible adjective (is divisible). In other words, non-grammatical -able/-ible means the same as grammatical can be (see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds). Again, there are surprisingly many such adjectives (see 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb, #4).

Thirdly, some passive forms are paraphrasable by being converted into a related “action” noun (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns, #4). If there is a resultant verb vacancy in a sentence, there will occasionally be the possibility of filling it with an active verb whose meaning is more like that of passive verbs, such as EXPERIENCE, HAVE, SUFFER or UNDERGO, e.g.:

be called (telephoned) by… → have a call from…
be abused → experience abuse
be repaired → undergo repair

For more examples, see 173. “Do Research” or “Make Research”?, #6.

Alternatively, where a sentence already has a verb, a passive meaning of an action noun may be indicated by other kinds of words around it:

(b) Non-declaration of restricted goods will necessitate their confiscation by police.

The main clue that confiscation here has passive meaning is the subsequent words by police, which would be the same if the passive form of the related verb CONFISCATE was being used (see 49. Prepositions after Action Nouns 2).

.

7. Conjunctions

Conjunction meanings – cause, consequence, condition, simultaneity etc. –indicate how the meanings of separate verbs in a sentence are related (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #2). Most conjunction meanings can also be expressed non-grammatically with a verb whose subject and/or object are action noun equivalents of the original linked verbs. Compare:

(c)  When demand expands, prices normally rise.

(d) Demand expansion normally induces price rises.

Here, expansion in (d) is the action noun equivalent of expands in (c), and the noun rises similarly equates to rise. The verb equivalent of when (induce) has expansion as its subject and rises as its object.

Verbs usable like INDUCE are again surprisingly numerous. Many similarly express a consequence, common examples being RESULT IN, CREATE, ENTAIL, LEAD TO, MEAN, TRIGGER and BRING ABOUT (see 32. Expressing Consequences). Verbs related to other conjunctions include DEPEND ON (condition), ACCOMPANY (simultaneity) and FOLLOW (sequencing) (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns, #1).

.

8. “Better” and “Best”

Better…than… and best… (of…), – common in analyses of advantages (see 277. Advantages & Disadvantages, #5) – are often replaceable by the verb prefix out- (see the end of 146. Some Important Prefix Types). Consider this:

(e) The economy performed better than expected.

The underlined words here could become outperformed expectations (with expected made into a noun because of its object role). Other common out- verbs are outdo, outlast, outplay, outrun, outsell, outsmart, outthink, outweigh and outwit. For an example with outlast, see 312. Grammar Command Test 3, #e.

Another prefix with a grammatical meaning is self- in words like self-service, where it represents “reflexive” pronouns like oneself or themselves (see the end of 268. Types of “-self” Object).