This document discusses the grammar point of a subjective infinitive complex. It explains that using "it is said/known/believed" followed by a clause is a passive construction, and can be rewritten by making the subject of the following clause the subject of the passive verb plus an infinitive. Some examples are given such as "It is said that Fred is a millionaire" becoming "Fred is said to be a millionaire". The subjective infinitive complex replaces a two-subject complex sentence with a simple sentence containing one subject, a passive verb, and an infinitive.

1. Grammar Point
Subjective Infinitive
Complex

2. People say that… = It is said…
• People say that honesty is the best quality. =
• It is said that honesty is the best quality.
• We use “it” as a new subject and add the
passive form.
• Such structure can be used with some other
verbs as: know, believe, consider, think,
report, expect, understand. These verbs
express our senses, feelings and thinking.

3. For example:
• It is known that…
• It is considered that…
• It is reported that…
• It is expected that…

4. And now let’s find out what is
Subjective Infinitive Complex
• If we put instead of “it” the doer of the action
from the second sentence, it means we have
made a new structure which is called
“Subjective Infinitive Complex”.
• Instead of having a complex sentence with
two subjects, we form a simple sentence and
have just one subject with passive + the
infinitive of the main (notional) verb.

5. Please, look at the examples.
• It is said that Fred is a millionaire. = Fred is
said to be a millionaire.
• It is know that she prepares fish well. = She is
known to prepare fish well.
• It is expected that they come by train
tomorrow. = They are expected to come by
train tomorrow.