What are the uses of this structure?
I looked for about it, but I couldn't find something useful.
Can you give me a definition and some examples?
Asked
Active
Viewed 189 times
-1
-
What structure? Can you give an example? – Hot Licks Oct 03 '20 at 23:54
-
Welcome to our sight for English linguistics. You might be interested in our sister-site for [ell.se]. – tchrist Oct 04 '20 at 00:33
1 Answers
0
If you are asking about such lines as these:
They are said to be wealthy
She is said to be very beautiful
they mean,
I hear (or I've heard) they are wealthy
People say she is very beautiful
Other examples:
The house is said to be haunted
He is said to be in prison
Prisons are said to be overcrowded
It is said to be the oldest tree in Scotland
We also say:
They say he's ill
I gather he's getting better
Old Brixtonian
- 5,546