Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[xiaopei]

Teachers:

The European Union is to be led by Finland.

Please explain the formation of this passive voice sentence. I couldn't figure out the difference between "is to be led" or "is led".

Thanks

Xiaopei

[LucentShade]

"is to be"~ isn't quite a passive voice structure; it's another way of saying "will be" or "should be" The difference between the two is that if you say, "The EU is led by Finland," it means that Finland leads the EU at this moment (it's the present tense). However, "The EU is to be led by Finland" means that Finland does not lead the EU now, but that it will lead the EU in the future.

"Any disagreement is to be resolved by a majority vote" = "Any disagreement will (should) be resolved by majority vote."

[pinenut]

[xiaopei]

Hi, LucentShade and pinenut:
Thank you very much.

I thought "The EU is to be led by Finland" is a passive voice sentence, isn't it?

Xiaopei

[Rajan]

The European Unision is to be led by Finland.

Actually the above sentence is like this :

The European Union is supposed / expected / required to be led by Finland.

Your Another Sentence is like this

The European Union is led by Finland (Passive Voice), Showing Fact.

If I am wrong, please tell me.