LEVEL 4

Passive report structures

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It is thought that poor water quality and pollution are damaging
the Great Barrier Reef.

Little is known about the Voronya Cave in Georgia because it is

so inaccessible.

It is said that about 16.8 million tourists visit London each year.

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1. The Gangotri Glacier in Nepal is said to look like a cow’s mouth, and
the place is called Gomukh or Gaumukh (gou, cow + mukh, face).
2. Tens of thousands of insects are believed to be waiting to be found
in the Amazon rainforest.
3. The New Zealand Storm Petrel was thought to have disappeared
150 years
ago, but the birds were seen again in 2003.
past participle of
be + + to + infinitive = present actions and events
the reporting verb
past participle of + past
be + to + have + = past actions and events
the reporting verb participle

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Work in pairs. Find the passive report
structures in the texts.
The Erg Chebbi dunes in Morocco
are 150 m high and 22 km wide.
During the warmest part of the
year, Moroccans can be seen in
Erg Chebbi buried up to their
necks in the hot sand! This is
reported to be a treatment for
rheumatism.
The Grand Canyon isn’t
the widest or deepest Canyon in the
world, but it is estimated that 5
million visitors enjoy its beauty
every year. The rock found at the
bottom of the Canyon is thought to
be 2 billion years old.

HaLong Bay in Vietnam is considered to

Alaska is known to
be one of the most beautiful bays in the
have more than 100,000
world. The name means ‘bay of descending
glaciers. is
It estimated
dragons’ because a dragon is believed
that about 10% of the Earth
to have charged towards the coast making
is covered by glaciers.
the valleys and pillars.

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GET IT RIGHT!

It is believed that a decision is

hastaken.
been

begun
The experiment is said to be next week.
beginning

win hundreds of races.
He is known to have won

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
Language in action
In the Brecon Beacons in Wales an unusually
large number of waterfalls can be found.
Henrhyd waterfall is just outside what is called
‘Waterfall Country’ but is considered by many
to be part of the area. It is the tallest waterfall
in South Wales and you can walk behind the
27-metre-tall curtain of water. It is thought that since the release of Batman:
The Dark Knight Rises, the waterfall has become more popular. The stunning
natural wonder was used as the entrance to the Bat cave. Work was
completedin 2015 to the path and steps to the waterfall and it is said
that the
walk is now safer for the Bat fans and other tourists.

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Can you remember the rules?
1 We use passive report structures when we want to report information and
the agent is not important.
The Amazon rainforest is known to be the largest forest in the world. (It’s
not important to say who thinks this.)
The ice in Antarctica is believed to be disappearing.
2 We mostly use passive report structures with verbs like say, think, believe,
know and consider.
Thousands of caves are thought to exist in China.
3 Passive report structures are quite formal and are commonly used in news
reports.

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Can you remember the rules?
4 If we use a passive report structure to talk about beliefs or knowledge in
the present we use be + past participle of the reporting verb + infinitive.
Really strange creatures are thought to exist in the deep oceans.
She is considered to be a real expert on wildlife.

5 If we use a passive report structure to talk about beliefs or knowledge in

the past, we use be + past participle of the reporting verb + to + present
perfect infinitive.
Dinosaurs are thought to have disappeared because of a major disaster on
Earth. (They no longer exist.)
They are known to have had very small brains.
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Match the sentences.
It is widely believed that the Great
Wall of China
It is widely accepted that lightning
It is commonly believed that water draining
down a sink in Australia
It is widely believed that the explorer
Christopher Columbus
It is commonly accepted that goldfish
The flow of the Mississippi river was reported
to have changed directed in 1811 and 1812
Although Mt. Everest is known to be the
highest mountain,
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due to the bulge of the Earth at the equator, Mount
Chimborazo in Ecuador is the closest to the moon.
had trouble persuading his sailors that they would not
sail off the edge of a flat earth.
have short memories - so short that they don't get
bored swimming around their bowls.
whirls in the opposite direction to that in the
northern hemisphere.
when there were three earthquakes measuring around
8 on the Richter scale.
is the only man-made object that can be seen from the
moon.
will never strike in the same place.
Speaking
Work in pairs. Use the words and your own ideas to make and present a
news report. Choose one of the ideas below. Use passive report structures.

• Earthquake • Glaciers melting

• 200 People injured/killed • World sea-level to rise 60cm to 70cm by 2100
• Dangerous buildings • Some nations are at serious risk of sea-level
• Rescue services couldn’t get to rise
• Poorest countries lack the resources needed to
some people
adapt to climate change
• No electricity
• Islands like the Maldives and Tuvalu may
• Aid workers can’t get to some disappear completely
villages • Maldives President asked neighbours India and
Sri Lanka if he could buy some of their land

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Acknowledgements
The authors and publishers acknowledge the following sources of copyright material
and are grateful for the permissions granted. While every effort has been made, it
has not always been possible to identify the sources of all the material used, or to
trace all copyright holders. If any omissions are brought to our notice, we will be
happy to include the appropriate acknowledgements on reprinting and in the next
update to the digital edition, as applicable.
The publishers are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright
photographs and material:
Slide 4 (TL): ©Tomas Zrna/Moment Open/Getty Images; Slide 4 (BR): ©Gerhard
Zwerger-Schoner/imageBROKER/Getty Images; Slide 6: ©Jo Evans/Moment
Open/Getty Images
Written by Emma Szlachta.
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