Answer with me

Choose the best answer and give reasons:

She was thought ............ the car in London.

a) to buy

b) buying

c) to have bought

d) might buy

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Caleb Andrews on March 26, 2012 at 6:13pm

"She was thought" is correct in American English as well. This rarely-used construction is a Simple Past Passive verb accompanied by a Perfect infinitive (to have bought), which is the only correct answer here. In this sentence, the point of view is from the perspective of someone else, not the "she". In other words, someone else was thinking that she had bought the car in London. Most Americans would say something along the lines of: "People thought that she had bought a car in London." However, the problem with this is that this construction caries with it a negative implied answer. In other words: "People thought that she had bought a car in London [but she really did not]". The construction with the Simple Past Passive verb caries with it a neutral implied answer. In other words, you get no feeling of whether or not people thought that she had bought a car in London; she was merely "thought to have bought" it. The construction seen in the question stems from the commonly-used Indirect Question construction found in Classical Latin. An example of this in English would be: "I know that it is true." Saying this using the Indirect Question construction would be: "I know it to be true."

Hope this helps! :)

Permalink Reply by norelyn A. Leogan on April 23, 2012 at 12:37am

my best choice is letter B.

thanks...

Permalink Reply by cuppy cake on June 18, 2012 at 6:18am

"she was thought" doesn't sound correct!

Permalink Reply by Caleb Andrews on June 18, 2012 at 10:17pm

It does sound rather strange. It is very rarely (if ever) used in American English, though some other dialects of English still would use this.

Permalink Reply by Melissa (Team Member) on June 20, 2012 at 9:32am

"she was thought" didn't throw me off at first, but now that i'm looking at it, it's pretty odd. if we're going with this sentence structure, then my answer would have to be C.

Permalink Reply by Lovely-Updates on June 22, 2012 at 7:30pm

I will go with C... to have bought...

She was thought to have bought... but she hasnt bought...

Its something like that...

Lovely Updates

Permalink Reply by Lauren Shao on June 26, 2012 at 12:54am

I think should be C

Permalink Reply by bouchema feriel on July 4, 2012 at 8:42am

buying

Permalink Reply by Mohamad Akmal on July 8, 2012 at 5:44am