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Ukrainian impersonal one-member sentences:
It is late – пізно
It is cold – холодно
It is hot – жарко
Scientific writers often try to avoid the use of personal expressions or
statements in order to make their writing seem more impartial and formal. The
following sentence has been written with both personal and impersonal expressions to
highlight the contrast between the two writing styles.
impersonal The explanation for this phenomenon may be found in...
personal We/I believe that the explanation for this phenomenon may be found
in...
However, used indiscriminately, writing impersonally can result in clumsy
statements through an excessive use of the passive voice. This can lead to ambiguity
or inaccuracy in your written work, for example:
impersonal & passive
It was decided that the temperature should be raised gives no information about
the identity of the people who made the decision.
personal & active
We decided that the temperature should be raised avoids ambiguity and makes
the sentence sound more direct, but uses the personal and rather informal we.
impersonal & active
The research team decided that the temperature should be raised is clear and
direct.
Think carefully about your use of impersonal and personal expressions, taking
care to ensure that your writing is always clear and unambiguous.
IMPERSONAL PASSIVE SENTENCES
THAT CLAUSE
TO INFINITIVE CLAUSE
2. IT IS SAID THAT
A common way of reporting what is said by people in general or by an
unspecified group of people is to use: it + passive verb ( be+ past participle)+ that
clause :
It is reported that the defence minister is to resign.
It has been acknowledged that lack of funding is part of the problem.
It can be seen that unemployment figures rose sharply in November.
3. OTHER VERBS
Other verbs that can be used in this pattern include:
AGREE / ALLEGE / ANNOUNCE / ASSUME / BELIEVE/ CALCULATE /
CLAIM / CONSIDER / DECLARE / DISCOVER/ESTIMATE / EXPECT / FEEL /
FIND / KNOW/ MENTION / PROPOSE / RECOMMEND / RUMOUR / SAY/
SHOW / SUPPOSE / THINK / UNDERSTAND
4. TO INFINITIVE IMPERSONAL PASSIVES
An alternative to it + passive verb + that clause is to use the subject of the main
sentence + passive verb (be+past participle)+ to-infinitive . Here are a few examples
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