When to acknowledge is used in the sense of to admit the gerund is used.
I acknowledge having made a mistake.
However, I was wondering what is the appropriate form in the sense of to accept status.
I found this sentence on the Internet:
He only hoped the applause was a result of his delivery and not to acknowledge him being voted most valuable player.
I think that this sentence means he was first voted as the most valuable player and for that reason people can acknowledge him being voted.
The jury who voted him the most valuable player, however, gave their votes beforehand; thus, using gerund would be wrong if my previous statement is true. Hence I guess:
The jury acknowledged him to be the most valuable player.
Imho, this is the active form fitting to the passive:
He is acknowledged to be the most valuable player.
I still have my doubts if the "acknowledge sb to be"-form is valid. I didn't find any examples on the web. So, is that sentence fine or must it be something like:
The jury acknowledged him as the most valuable player.
Best Answer
Cambridge University Press's online English dictionary has this example: "She is usually acknowledged to be one of our best artists" and OUP's online dictionary has this example: "He is widely acknowledged to be the best player in the world".
From this, one can extrapolate that the people doing the acknowledging can say "I acknowledge him to be the best player in the world".
I haven't found a form with to+infinitive other than "to be". I can imagine "I acknowledge him to play chess better than Kasparov", but it sounds very stilted, compared with "I acknowledge that he plays ...".