Form and rules
How it works
1
Impersonal pattern: It + passive reporting verb + that-clause: It is believed that the company will sell.
2
Personal pattern: subject + passive reporting verb + to-infinitive: The company is believed to be for sale.
3
Common reporting verbs include say, believe, think, expect, know and report.
4
Use to have + past participle when the reported action is earlier: He is believed to have left.
5
These structures are common in formal, news and academic-style language because they avoid presenting a claim as the speaker's own fact.