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My whole family thinks that ghosts exist.

 

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  #1  
Old January 14, 2014, 02:22 AM
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Exclamation My whole family thinks that ghosts exist.
My whole family thinks that ghosts exist.
if we want to make an impersonal passive sentence out of this sentence, how would we do it?
Just like this:

My whole family is thought to believe in ghosts.
It is thought in my family that ghosts exist.
Ghosts are thought to exist

I don´t think this is the best example of a sentence to be paraphrased.
Last edited by ROBINDESBOIS; January 14, 2014 at 02:26 AM.
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  #2  
Old January 14, 2014, 11:27 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS View Post
My whole family thinks that ghosts exist.
if we want to make an impersonal passive sentence out of this sentence, how would we do it?
Just like this:

My whole family is thought to believe in ghosts.
It is the belief in my family that ghosts exist.
Ghosts are thought to exist in my family.

I don´t think this is the best example of a sentence to be paraphrased.
The belief in the existence of ghosts is a credence shared among all the members of my family.
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Last edited by poli; January 14, 2014 at 05:52 PM. Reason: a grammatical correction
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  #3  
Old January 14, 2014, 02:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poli View Post
The belief in the existence of ghosts is a credence shared among all the members of my family.
It is believed in my family that ghosts exist.
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  #4  
Old January 14, 2014, 03:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS View Post
It is believed in my family that ghosts exist.

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  #5  
Old January 14, 2014, 05:56 PM
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That sentence is OK, but you should know that it is ambiguous.
It is believed in my family that ghosts exists may also mean that others think that there are ghosts in your family.
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Old January 14, 2014, 08:14 PM
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Originally Posted by poli View Post
It is believed in my family that ghosts exists may also mean that others think that there are ghosts in your family.
I disagree.
The prepositional phrase 'in my family' definitely ties to 'it is believed'. It is the family who believes it. What does 'it' refer to? The relative clause 'that ghosts exist'. It is the family who believes that ghosts exist. No one else was mentioned. No one else can be inferred.
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Old January 14, 2014, 06:32 PM
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Wouldn't it be simpler "my whole family believes in ghosts"?
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Old January 14, 2014, 07:47 PM
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Those are words truly spoken, Angela. It's been said that the passive is more widely used in English than it in Spanish, but direct and simply spoken English may be heard as well
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