I am working with a student who sends me essays and I help edit them. In one of his paragraphs, he wrote "The lecturer indicates this is illegal since it is considering stealing." In my head, I know it should be "considered stealing." But I am having trouble explaining why. Is there a specific grammar rule? My student's first language is Spanish so I want to try and explain this in a way he can remember.
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1Active: the essay is thinking about doing some stealing (considering stealing). Passive: Something is seen by authorities as a form of theft (is considered). I am considering a haircut. I am considered humble. – Yosef Baskin Jan 21 '21 at 17:50
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1You should include the previous sentences in the paragraph for context. Enough context deters guessing answers and attracts higher-quality ones that might actually help you. – niamulbengali Jan 21 '21 at 18:21
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More context is needed (previous sentence or enough to make out clearly what is the meaning of "consider"). – LPH Jan 21 '21 at 18:33
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It's wrong because "it" would be the subject of "is considering ...", which makes no sense at all. The clause should be the passive "It is considered stealing (by someone)", with the passive auxiliary verb "be" + the past participle "considered", and "it" as a pro-form. – BillJ Jan 21 '21 at 19:11
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This is arguably valid English although it probably does not convey what the writer intended. The result is a statement that would be false at least under any current legal system as the "illegal" act here would be thought crime. That is to say this would be a valid and truthful statement when describing a situation in which thinking about aka considering stealing was a crime in itself. Applying the present tense to consider here implies a chilling reality where the mere thought is itself illegal. This may be true in a fictional setting but we are fortunate that it is not in reality. – MttJocy Mar 23 '23 at 13:11
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That said this would absolutely be a valid and I would argue correct usage were one to be writing about a fictional setting where thought crime was a thing and thus the mere thought or perhaps even impulse to consider stealing the implied subject a crime by itself. In reality this would be a monstrous setting to make consistent and yet leave any humans that are not incarcerated as even a momentary impulse that is immediately dismissed would qualify as consideration, the result of which being said dismissal. But maybe someone more creative than me could make a decent dystopian fiction there. – MttJocy Mar 23 '23 at 13:25
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The idiomatic phrase is to consider something to be something ("to be" can be omitted). It means:
to have a particular opinion about someone or something
- consider someone/something (to be) something: e.g. We all considered him a hero. (Macmillan)
Your sentence
X is considered to be Y
is a case of passive voice. X does not perform the action of considering, but is itself considered (by people in general) to be Y.
Here are some synonyms from WordHippo that could replace is "considered" in your sentence:
... since it is believed/deemed/reckoned to be stealing. (you cannot say "since it is believing [to be] stealing)
Note that you can also use as with these phrases:
... since it is considered/ believed/deemed/reckoned as stealing.
fev
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I have to disagree here and argue that the statement is in fact valid albeit entirely false in non-fictional work. The use of the present tense of consider here makes it read as though the adjective illegal applies to the verb here. That is to say the sentence would be true in some dystopian fiction where merely thinking about stealing the contextual object here were a criminal act by itself. What it is illegal to even consider stealing is not directly stated here in this extract but that is entirely mundane, the object of the conversation would be implicit in the context that we lack here. – MttJocy Mar 23 '23 at 13:37
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There's a difference between gramatical and logical. Is it grammatically correct? Yes. Is it logical? No... well, it's slightly confusing. Why? Simply put...
considering stealing implies that the subject (it) wants to/is thinking about stealing an object. The verb "consider" here is active.
considered stealing implies that a certain action is viewed as being some kind of theft. In this instance, the verb "consider" is passive. (be + past participle = passive voice)
It's very likely that the writer had in mind the latter but made an error.
Consider some examples
once... an employee is considering stealing , they will spend some time attempting to justify their intended needs (source)
Suppose that a potential thief is considering stealing an item that would cost a hundred dollars (source)
In both examples, the subject has in mind to steal something. Contrast that with this example, in which a certain action is viewed (or described) as stealing
Such a practice is considered stealing... It is forbidden by the Torah, except when dealing with foreigners (source)
Please note though, that the word consider has various meanings, therefore, is considering can yield yet another meaning:
The state is considering stealing to be a crime worthy of the most severe punishment.
In this example, the word "consider" is being used actively, thus changing the meaning. An in-depth discussion of this would perhaps be beyond the scope of this question.
Mr Chasi
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Something is illegal because there is a law against it. The law was made in the past, so the consideration as to whether it is stealing or not took place in the past, and so, therefore, the past tense is appropriate.
For example, in the west homosexuality was illegal because it was considered indecent. However, it is no longer considered indecent by any reasonable person. So even if it were still illegal it would be so because IN THE PAST it was considered indecent when the law was made. (Of course, it is a totally ridiculous law, and people should be free to love whomever they wish, but it makes the point that what is "considered" wrong in the past, does not necessarily remain so today. Emphasizing the laws are made in the past tense, not the present.)
That isn't to say that this sentence is definitely ungrammatical. If, for example, there was a law that made thinking about robbing a bank a felony, that is to say the act of thinking about it, not actually doing it, then "considering stealing" in the present would indeed be a violation of that law. So, in that case to say "it is illegal because it is considering stealing" would indeed be grammatically valid.
Something like that is unlikely to be illegal, but it certainly might be thought immoral to even contemplate theft. So one could easily imagine a sentence saying, like this: "I am thinking about shoplifting, but I quickly cleared my mind of such thoughts. They were immoral since it is considering stealing."
Fraser Orr
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The answer includes just a bit of personal opinion, which can be considered to detract from the authoritative quality ("no longer considered indecent by any reasonable person," "totally ridiculous law"). And are you actually giving weight to the possibility that considering could work here, because of "a law that made thinking about robbing a bank a felony"? – Yosef Baskin Jan 21 '21 at 20:40
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You are missing a context where this could in fact not only be a valid but also chillingly a true statement. That being in a setting where legislating against and perhaps enforcing prohibitions on thought crime could exist. Out of context this is arguably a valid English statement, just one we are fortunate could only be true of a dystopia where the mere act of dismissing a random impulse to do a thing could be a crime, that dismissal is the result of momentary consideration where we conclude that it is not an impulse we chose to actualise. All humans would all be so screwed in such a world. – MttJocy Mar 23 '23 at 13:49