Learn English – Active passive confusion

grammar

I need help in passive of this sentence

Spain expected to win the world cup

My answer was

The world cup was expected to be won by Spain

but the book's answer is

it was expected by Spain to win the World cup

Why " to win" is not changed in passive in the book?

Best Answer

There are two very different possible meanings of this phrase:

Spain expected to win the World Cup

If this is a newspaper headline — without a period at the end— it could mean

Some people expect Spain to win the (upcoming) World Cup.

Spain is expected by some people to win the (upcoming) World Cup.

The “some people” could be experts, a majority of people in a survey, oddsmakers, and so on. The subject of the verb is unstated.

“Expected” here is used to mean “is expected” — headlines typically omit the verb “to be”.

If this is a complete sentence — with a period at the end— then it could mean

The people of Spain expected to win the World Cup.

The soccer team of Spain expected to win the World Cup.

The sentences are talking about a past World Cup. (Maybe the most recent one, maybe a previous one. Maybe they won it, maybe they didn’t – but they had the expectation that they would be the winner.)

This is not the passive voice at all. It’s just the past tense. “Expected” here means the same as:

Spain had expected to win the World Cup.

The people of Spain had expected to win the World Cup.

The soccer team of Spain had expected to win the World Cup.

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