Need help wth "he is believed to be"

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

Moderator: Alan

Locked
User avatar
peroxwhygen
Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 6:54 pm
Status: Teacher of English

Need help wth "he is believed to be"

Post by peroxwhygen »

Good evening, I was hoping to get some help with the following sentence:

"The president is believed to be in good health"

Does anyone know what kind of grammar this is or what tense it relates to?
What does the structure look like, is it subject+verb+infinitive?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Sean
User avatar
Alan
Teacher/Moderator
Teacher/Moderator
Posts: 15237
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:56 pm
Status: Teacher of English
Location: Japan

Re: Need help wth "he is believed to be"

Post by Alan »

It is a present indicative passive verb phrase consisting of a predicator (is believed) and a subject-complement (the infinitive phrase 'to be in good health').

Does that help you?
Locked