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Bat-people on the Moon? The impersonal passive: it is said that…

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches the impersonal passive (it is said that) through the Great Moon Hoax of 1835.

Grammar
It + is / was + past participle + that (It was reported that the Moon had forests.) for claims now and then, plus adverbs, the negative and the right reporting verb.
Topic
How a one-cent New York daily put winged people on the Moon and why many readers believed it at first, with words such as hoax, gullible and sensational.
Activities
An explainer to read, an office argument and a retired editor's voice memo to hear, self-checking drills, a fact-or-claim sort, a headline chat and question boxes.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: would you believe it?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: news, tricks and the MoonVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2The week the Moon got crowded

    • Look at the picture: New York, August 1835PictureUnlock
    • Read Harper's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the paragraphs and the headingsMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Were they easier to fool?

    • Listen to Harper and IsaiahListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Rupert's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: It was reported that…

    • Study the scheme: It is said that…Grammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: say it with It + passiveFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what does it mean?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: check before you share

    • Sort the sentences into the correct columns: a fact or a claim?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Choose the right replies: check a strange headlineChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: fooled then, fooled now?Open the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct order: new sentencesUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Harper's fact boxChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Harper answers RupertDrag and dropUnlock

34 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • hoax
  • sensational
  • gullible
  • circulation
  • astronomer
  • creature
  • newsboy
  • satire
  • magnify

Grammar: the impersonal passive: It is said that…

The impersonal passive reports what people say, think or believe without saying who: It is said that hoaxes sell papers. News writers use it to keep a distance from a claim. With a newspaper series that put forests and winged people on the Moon, learners pass on a claim without vouching for it, then choose the tense and the reporting verb.

It is said that… It was reported that…

Report what people say, think or believe without saying who: It + is / was + past participle + that…

It + is / was + past participle + that

Start with It, add is or was and a past participle, then a that clause: It was reported that Herschel had found life on the Moon. The person who says it drops out of the sentence: People say that… becomes It is said that…

Itis / was + past participlethat + what people say
Itis saidthat hoaxes sell papers.
Itis thoughtthat Richard Adams Locke wrote the series.
Itis knownthat Dr. Andrew Grant never existed.
Itwas reportedthat Herschel had found life on the Moon.
Itwas claimedthat the telescope could magnify things 42,000 times.
Itwas widely believedthat the reports were true.

Now or then, adverbs and the negative

Is reports what people say today, was what they said then: Today it is thought that the hoax was partly a joke. Adverbs go before the participle: It is often said… A wh- word can follow It is not known: It is not known how many people believed it.

WhenFormExample
now: what people say or think todayIt is + past participleToday it is thought that the hoax was partly a joke.
then: what people said or thought in the pastIt was + past participleIn 1835, it was reported that the Moon had forests.
with an adverbis / was + often, widely, now + past participleIt is often said that hoaxes sell papers.
the negativeIt is not + past participleIt is not known how many people believed it.

Say, believe or know?

Say, report and claim pass on a story that may or may not be true. Think, believe and suspect give an opinion that nobody is sure of. Know marks an accepted fact: It is known that Herschel never wrote it.

Which verb? What does it tell you?

VerbsWhat they tell youExample
say, report, claimPeople tell the story. It may or may not be true.It was claimed that the Moon had temples.
think, believe, suspectIt's people's opinion; nobody is completely sure.It is suspected that Locke wanted to sell papers.
knowIt's an accepted fact.It is known that Herschel never wrote it.

Why use it?

Use It + passive when you don't know who said something, when it doesn't matter, or when you want to keep a distance from a claim, as news writers do. People say that hoaxes sell papers. → It is said that hoaxes sell papers. It is claimed that… doesn't tell the reader the claim is true.

It said that… or It was said that…?

It said that… means a thing said it: The article came out on Tuesday. It said that… For people in general, use the passive: It was said that… Start with It, never There, and put no to before that.

It, the past participle, that

Start with It, never There. Use is / was + the past participle (was believed, not was believe), then that, never to that. And “It said that…” means a thing said it: The article came out on Tuesday. It said that… For people in general, use the passive: It was said that…

Common mistakes

Four slips: There is said that…, It is said to that…, the base form after was (It was believe that…) and an active verb with nobody to do it (It thinks that Locke wrote the series). People think it, so the verb is passive.

  • There is said that hoaxes sell papers.

    It is said that hoaxes sell papers.

    start with It, never There

  • It is said to that the Moon has forests.

    It is said that the Moon has forests.

    no to before that

  • It was believe that the reports were true.

    It was believed that the reports were true.

    was + the past participle

  • It thinks that Locke wrote the series.

    It is thought that Locke wrote the series.

    people think it, so use the passive

At The Why Desk

  • It was reported that a giant telescope could magnify things 42,000 times.
  • At first, it was widely believed that the reports were true.
  • Today it is thought that Richard Adams Locke wrote the series.
  • It is often said that the hoax made the Sun's sales jump.
  • It is not known how many people really believed it.
  • “It is said that robots learn fast,” Isaiah said. “Not Pascal.”

More lessons on this grammar: Passive voice lessons and exercises · Reported speech lessons and exercises

Try the impersonal passive exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

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What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 6 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • report what people say or think without naming them: Today it is thought that Richard Adams Locke wrote the series.
  • use is for what people say now and was for what they said then: In 1835, it was reported that the Moon had forests.
  • add an adverb or a negative: At first, it was widely believed that the reports were true. It is not known how many people believed it.
  • choose a verb that shows how sure people are: It is claimed that…, It is suspected that…, It is known that…
  • question a strange headline while keeping a distance from it: It is claimed that scientists found it, but which scientists?

Lesson 14 is the second lesson of News and truth, unit 4 of English B2.2 · Culture and Society. It builds on the reporting verbs of B2.1 lessons 13 to 15 and the passive forms of B2.1 lessons 6 to 8. Lesson 15 returns to contrast with despite and however, and lesson 16 puts the person first: He is said to have… A false story printed as news is a natural home for it was reported that.

Students spin a wheel of questions about false stories and headlines, then learn twelve words, from suspect and deceive to newsboy and satire, with pictures and audio. They read Harper's explainer on the Moon series, then hear Harper and Isaiah argue over whether readers in 1835 were easier to fool, and Rupert, a retired editor from New York, insist that hoaxes sell papers; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them a table that turns “people say” into It is said. In the speaking chapter, students sort facts from claims, help Imelda check a Moon headline in a chat and open boxes about being fooled then and now.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game; then form choices and gaps in new sentences, a quiz on which sentence is correct and word order; then Harper's fact box with forms to choose and her answer to Rupert with words to drag in.

Grammar:
impersonal passive · It is said that · It was reported that · reporting verbs in the passive · reporting with distance
Topic:
the Great Moon Hoax · the New York Sun · John Herschel · hoaxes and fake news · checking a strange headline · news and truth · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Rewrite a school rumor on the board: People say that the principal sings opera. Students turn it into It is said that…, then try believed, claimed and known and say how sure each version sounds.
  • Ask what makes a story believable before the reading. Students then read to find the explainer's two reasons: the articles' scientific style, and Herschel being too far away to deny the story quickly.
  • Play the office argument twice: first to find out who says readers in 1835 were easier to fool, then to catch every It was reported, It was widely believed and It is thought.
  • Use the fact-or-claim sort for a quick debate: students read one sentence from each column aloud and explain what It was claimed that… adds, and why a news writer would choose it.

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The whole course: English B2.2 · Culture and Society

32 more lessons for adults at B2 in American English, with the same Why Desk team in Pittsburgh. Each lesson answers one question about how Americans learn, work, travel and remember, from the law behind the 40-hour week to the oral histories of StoryCorps. Learners link ideas in formal writing, report what is said and believed, and pack more into a sentence with participle and relative clauses. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Learning reimagined

    adjective suffixes and negative prefixes, mixed conditionals, provided that and on condition that

    1. Lesson 1College for farmers' kids?Adjective suffixes and negative prefixes
    2. Lesson 2One cousin, one video, millions of learnersMixed conditionals: a past cause, a result now
    3. Lesson 3A college that says yesConditional linkers: provided that, on condition that, assuming, otherwise
    4. Lesson 4School in the woodsMixed conditionals: a present state, a past result

  2. Unit 2 Work-life balance

    be required to and be entitled to, present and perfect participle clauses, participle clauses after conjunctions

    1. Lesson 5Who decided a week is 40 hours?Formal rules: be required to, be entitled to, be exempt from
    2. Lesson 6A paid year off: rest or research?Present participle clauses for time and reason
    3. Lesson 7Was the coffee break born in Wisconsin?Perfect participle clauses: having done and having been done
    4. Lesson 8Why is the first Monday of September a day off?Participle phrases after conjunctions

  3. Unit 3 Turning points

    reduced relative clauses, preposition + which and whom, which for a whole clause, noun + preposition

    1. Lesson 9The keyboard that opened the officeReduced relative clauses: -ing and the past participle
    2. Lesson 10Earthrise: the photo that changed how we see EarthPreposition + which and whom
    3. Lesson 11A city of white palaces for six monthsSentence relative clauses: which for a whole clause
    4. Lesson 12The count that took eight years?Noun + preposition: a need for, a solution to, access to

  4. Unit 4 News and truth

    although, whereas and while, the impersonal passive, despite and however, is said to have

    1. Lesson 13A newspaper of their ownLinkers of contrast: although, even though, whereas and while
    2. Lesson 14 · you're hereBat-people on the Moon?The impersonal passive: It is said that…
    3. Lesson 15Read like a fact-checkerLinkers of contrast: despite, in spite of, however and even so
    4. Lesson 16Did George Washington really chop down a cherry tree?Passive reporting verbs: is said to have done

  5. Unit 5 Travel that gives back

    so as to, in order to and so that, modifying comparatives, linkers of reason and result, verb + object + preposition + -ing

    1. Lesson 17Seven rules for the wild?Linkers of purpose: to, in order to, so as to, so that
    2. Lesson 18A lottery to see firefliesModifying comparatives and superlatives
    3. Lesson 19Sunrise with the turtlesLinkers of reason and result
    4. Lesson 20Volunteer on vacation?Verb + object + preposition + -ing

  6. Unit 6 Sport and society

    verb + noun collocations, what phrasal verb particles mean, a for-and-against essay, nouns from phrasal verbs

    1. Lesson 21The college team that changed disability sportVerb + noun collocations
    2. Lesson 22When women played pro baseballPhrasal verbs: what the particles mean
    3. Lesson 23Who needs a referee?The for and against essay: plan and linkers
    4. Lesson 24The comeback of Jim ThorpeNouns from phrasal verbs

  7. Unit 7 Buildings and heritage

    past participle clauses, quantifier + of which and of whom, report language, turn out and prove

    1. Lesson 25Homes built into the cliffsPast participle clauses with a passive meaning
    2. Lesson 26A house over a waterfallQuantifier + of which and of whom
    3. Lesson 27From factory to art museumReport language: headings, impersonal style, recommendations
    4. Lesson 28The towers the city tried to pull downTurn out and prove + to-infinitive or that clause

  8. Unit 8 Generations

    adverb + adjective collocations, three-part phrasal verbs, negative and echo questions, prepositional phrases

    1. Lesson 29Who decides where a generation ends?Adverb + adjective collocations
    2. Lesson 30Music students living in a retirement home?Three-part phrasal verbs
    3. Lesson 31Conversations kept for historyNegative questions and echo questions
    4. Lesson 32A day for grandparentsFixed prepositional phrases

Questions about this lesson

What is the impersonal passive?
The impersonal passive starts with It and reports what people say, think or believe without naming them: It is said that hoaxes sell papers. The pattern is It + is or was + past participle + that. News writers use it to keep a distance from a claim. The B2 lesson Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai teaches it with the Great Moon Hoax of 1835.
What does “it is said that” mean?
It means “people say that,” with no speaker named, and the writer doesn't promise that it's true: It is said that the Moon has forests. For what people said in the past, use It was said that… The same pattern works with reported, claimed, thought, believed, suspected and known. A meaning quiz in Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai asks what each version tells the reader.
What are some examples of the impersonal passive?
Five from Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai: It was reported that a giant telescope could magnify things 42,000 times. At first, it was widely believed that the reports were true. Today it is thought that Richard Adams Locke wrote the series. It is not known how many people really believed it. It is often said that hoaxes sell papers. None of them names who says it.
What's the difference between “it is said that” and “it said that”?
It said that… is active: a thing, such as an article, did the saying. The article came out on Tuesday. It said that the Moon had forests. It is said that… is passive and means that people in general say it. So for a rumor, write It was said that a fire had burned the observatory, not It said. The scheme of Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai sets the two side by side.
Is it “there is said that” or “it is said that”?
It's it is said that, always with It: It is said that hoaxes sell papers, not There is said that… Two more slips are common: It is said to that… (no to before that) and It was believe that… (use the past participle, believed). Most wrong replies in the chat of Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai make one of these mistakes.
What was the Great Moon Hoax?
On Tuesday, August 25, 1835, the New York Sun began a six-part series saying that the astronomer Sir John Herschel had seen life on the Moon through a huge telescope in South Africa. The fourth part, on August 28, described winged, bat-like people. Herschel had nothing to do with it. Many readers believed it at first, but by August 29 several papers had called it a hoax. Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai tells the story.
Who wrote the Great Moon Hoax?
The series ran without a name, but most historians think Richard Adams Locke wrote it. A writer at the Sun, he denied it at first and admitted it later. The articles named a made-up author, Dr. Andrew Grant, and claimed to come from a supplement to the Edinburgh Journal of Science, which had stopped under that name in 1833. Locke's reasons are still debated. Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai sorts what is known from what isn't.
How do I teach the impersonal passive to B2 students?
Start from the active sentence: People say that hoaxes sell papers. Take the people away and it becomes It is said that… Then add the tense (is for now, was for then) and what each verb means. Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai moves from Harper's explainer to the scheme, then to a table where students rewrite eight active sentences with It + passive.
What's a good game for practicing “it is said that”?
Play “Rumor or fact?”: each student writes one surprising sentence about the school or the town, true or invented, and reads it out as It is said that… The class asks questions, then votes: is it known, or only claimed? In Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai, one of the boxes at the end asks whether a photo still never lies.
What's good homework for the impersonal passive?
Good homework ties each form to a time word: Last year, it ___ (say) that the museum would close, plus form choices, word order and a quiz on which sentence is correct. All ten homework tasks in Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai check themselves, and they end with Harper's fact box on the hoax and her answer to Rupert.
How do you practice the impersonal passive one-to-one?
Read today's headlines together and retell each one with distance: It is reported that…, It is claimed that… The student explains which verb fits how sure the source is, then the teacher does the same with the student's headlines. The chat in Bat-people on the Moon? on edio.ai works without a partner: Imelda sends a headline about an ancient city on the far side of the Moon.
Are there interactive exercises for the impersonal passive?
Yes. This page plays three parts of Bat-people on the Moon?, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: the office argument about readers in 1835, a gap-fill with it is or it was + participle and Imelda's chat about a strange headline. The rest needs an account.
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