🎓 TinyProf's Grammar Guide: Passive Voice with Infinitives

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1. What We're Solving

We have the active sentence: > "Everyone expects the Department to conduct the FDP successfully."

We need to identify which passive voice conversion(s) are correct — and understand why.

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2. The Approach

This sentence is special because it contains two verb ideas:

• "expects" (the main verb)
• "to conduct" (an infinitive phrase)

When you have this structure, English gives you two different objects you can promote to the subject in passive voice. That's why there are two possible answers! 🔍

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3. Step-by-Step Solution

🔷 Step 1: Identify the Sentence Structure

Break the sentence into its parts:

| Element | Word(s) | |---|---| | Subject | Everyone | | Main Verb | expects | | Object 1 (of "expects") | the Department | | Infinitive phrase | to conduct the FDP successfully | | Object 2 (of "to conduct") | the FDP |

Notice there are two objects — the Department and the FDP. This is the key insight! ✨

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🔷 Step 2: Understand the Passive Voice Rule

The general formula for passive voice is:

> Object → becomes Subject + is/are/was + past participle + (by agent)

When a sentence has an infinitive involved, the rule extends to:

> Object of main verb + is/are + past participle + infinitive phrase

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🔷 Step 3: Test Conversion #1

> "The Department is expected to conduct the FDP successfully (by everyone)."

Here, "the Department" (Object 1) is promoted to subject.

• "expects" → becomes "is expected" ✅
• "to conduct the FDP successfully" → stays intact as the infinitive phrase ✅
• "by everyone" → optional agent phrase ✅

Does the meaning hold? > Is the Department expected to conduct the FDP successfully? Yes! ✅

The spotlight shifts from who expects → to who is being expected.

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🔷 Step 4: Test Conversion #2

> "The FDP is expected to be conducted successfully by the Department (by everyone)."

Here, "the FDP" (Object 2, the deeper object) is promoted to subject.

• "expects" → "is expected" ✅
• "to conduct" → "to be conducted" (infinitive becomes passive infinitive) ✅
• "by the Department" → agent of conducting ✅
• "by everyone" → agent of expecting ✅

Does the meaning hold? > Is the FDP expected to be conducted by the Department? Yes! ✅

This represents a double transformation — both the main verb AND the infinitive are passivized.

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🔷 Step 5: The Pattern to Recognize

| Active Structure | Passive Option A | Passive Option B | |---|---|---| | S + expects + O1 + to do + O2 | O1 + is expected + to do + O2 | O2 + is expected + to be done + by O1 |

Both options are grammatically valid — they shift focus differently.

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4. The Answer

✅ Both conversions are correct!

• Conversion 1 focuses on the Department being expected to do something
• Conversion 2 focuses on the FDP being expected to be conducted

They emphasize different aspects of the same idea, but both are grammatically sound passive transformations. 🎉

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5. 💡 Memory Tip

> "Two objects = Two passive options!"

Whenever you see a sentence like "Someone expects X to do Y", remember:

• You can passivize at X → "X is expected to do Y"
• You can passivize at Y → "Y is expected to be done by X"

The deeper the object, the more passive infinitives you need! 🪜

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You're doing great tackling this — passive voice with infinitives trips up even advanced learners! 🌟