Personal-impersonal ive Rule 5i23v

Need – Personal /Impersonal Construction

1) Personal ive When we put an object of an active sentence into ive, it becomes subject of the ive sentence. Active voice: The professor explained the students the exercise. The professor explained the exercise to the students. ive voice: The students were explained the exercise. The exercise was explained to the students. We sometimes use a pronoun for "the students" or "the exercise" in its subject form (here: they/it). ive voice: They were explained the exercise. It was explained to the students. We very often leave out the by-agent in the ive sentence (here: by the professor).

2) Impersonal ive - It is said ... The phrase It is said ... is an impersonal ive construction. We often use it in news. ive sentence - version 1: It is said that children are afraid of ghosts. ive sentence - version 2: Children are said to be afraid of ghosts. The correct active sentence would be: Active sentence: People say that children are afraid of ghosts. Personal ive simply means that the object of the activesentence becomes the subject of the ive sentence. So every verbthat needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal ive. Example: They build houses. – Houses are built.

Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal ive sentence (as there is no object that can become the subject of the ive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in ive voice, you need an impersonal construction – therefore this ive is called Impersonal ive. Example: he says – it is said Impersonal ive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German, Latin). In English, Impersonal ive is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know). Example: They say that women live longer than men. – It is said that women live longer than men. Although Impersonal ive is possible here, Personal ive is more common. Example: They say that women live longer than men. – Women are said to live longer than men. [To form Impersonal ive] the subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of perception is put into ive 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 ive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject of the ive sentence.