Types of passive in English /L 2
Personal and impersonal passive .
Personal Passive
When we put an object of an active sentence into passive, it becomes subject of the passive sentence.
Active voice:
The professor explained the students the exercise.
The professor explained the exercise to the students.
Passive 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).
Passive voice:
They were explained the exercise.
It was explained to the students.
We very often leave out the by-agent in the passive sentence (here: by the professor).
2) Impersonal Passive - It is said ...
The phrase It is said ... is an impersonal passive construction. We often use it in news.
Passive sentence - version 1:
It is said that children are afraid of ghosts.
Passive 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