It is rumoured, said, reported, etc... please confirm

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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I have some sentences here I’d like you to take a look at and then say whether my intrepretation of them is correct or not.

  • The Queen is rumoured to be seriously ill. ( the Queen is still sick)
  • The Queen was rumoured to be seriously ill. ( also here the Queen is still sick)
  • The Queen was rumoured to be seriously ill. (also sick in this one)
  • The Queen is rumoured to have been seriously ill. (But she’s not longer sick in this one…)
  • The Queen was rumoured to have been seriously ill. (…nor in this one)

To me they all appear correct, but do YOU think so? Please, tell me if this is not.

Thanks

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We don’t know whether or not the Queen is sick because we don’t know the facts. Rumors are not facts.

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Thanks Torsten,

I already knew that but are the sentence constructions correct?

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Let’s start with this one. It’s correct. Before we continue it would be great where you found those sentences. Did you create them yourself? If so, why? When learning a language context is key and I can’t imagine any natural text where all those sentences occur in a row.

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Yes, I created them myself and they do not occur in a row in a text, I merely wanted to know if my grammatical constructions were right, because I sometimes use them intuitively when speaking to somebody. Afterwards I sometimes wonder was this or that correct or not. Why I created those senteces? I haven’t got a clue. I guess I simply picked a person. No big deal.

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Well, all the four sentences you wrote are grammatically correct. (you posted the second one twice)

I’m afraid this sentence doesn’t make any sense. Maybe you meant ‘picked on a person’?

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Thanks for replying, Torsten, but I didn’t pick on the Queen, because that would mean I was teasing her and that’s not my intention. I simply choose somebody well-known and also famous. No, on the contrary I love the British Queen and all others of Europe. I certainly wouldn’t pick on her, all right?

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Masme, I’d say you just picked a noun.

Well, in ‘The Queen was rumoured to have been seriously ill.’ I find it as an incident of the past, that is, the rumour was spread in the past and her being alleged to be sick was in the past.

As Torsten has said, except for the repetition of second as the third (both are the same) all the sentences are grammatical. Ad they make sense as well.

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