Using the word "purports"

Question

I looked up the word 'purport' to understand why it is always used in sentences and I found the following information, but I don't seem to understand when to use the word even with this explanation:

The passive form of the verb purport is often used in place of the active form with the same meaning: The novel purports (or is purported) to be autobiographical. Some people regard any passive use of the verb as incorrect, and it is often better to use alleged, supposed, or some other synonym in place of purported: The president is alleged (not purported) to have vetoed the proposal.
The passive form, I would have thought, is when the verb is done by the subject rather than the subject doing the verb. Is this right?

Why is the passive use of the verb considered incorrect and what would be wrong if the sentence was "The president purports to have vetoed the proposal" instead of "The president is alleged to have vetoed the proposal"?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I looked up the word 'purport' to understand why it is always used in sentences and I found the following ... was "The president purports to have vetoed the proposal" instead of "The president is alleged to have vetoed the proposal"?[/nq]
"Alleged" means that someone else says so: "purports" means that he says so, though he's possbly lying.
Alan Jones

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I looked up the word 'purport' to understand why it ... of "The president is alleged to have vetoed the proposal"?[/nq]
[nq:1]"Alleged" means that someone else says so: "purports" means that he says so, though he's possbly lying.[/nq]
As to the existence of a passive form "is purported" when there's no corresponding active form (e.g., "He purports the novel to be autobiographical"), note that this occurs only where there would be a direct object if the active form were used. With what would otherwise be the direct object as the subject and an infinitive following, the active is idiomatic, as in your own example "The novel purports to be autobiographical." This is just another case where a particular syntactical form is not idiomatic. Idiom rules.
There's a brief discussion of the word in The Columbia Guide, short enough to quote in full: "'This publication purports to be the voice of the new party' and 'This publication is purported to be the voice of the new party' differ in meaning: 'purports to be' suggests that it 'intends' or 'pretends' or 'claims' to be; 'is purported to be' suggests that it 'is thought to be' or 'has been put forward by others as being.' Both uses are Standard."
. I'm not sure things are nearly as clear as this note indicates, however.

Bob Lieblich
Who purports to know what he's talking about

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]As to the existence of a passive form "is purported" when there's no corresponding active form (e.g., "He purports the ... as being.' Both uses are Standard." . I'm not sure things are nearly as clear as this note indicates, however.[/nq]
Perhaps the chiefest point about passive versus active is that, rightly used, it is simply a device to shift the emphasis of the thought. The difference between "Mr. Smith visited the president" and "The president was visited by Mr. Smith" is whether we are to feel that the person of interest, the focus of the thought, is Mr. Smith or the president.

But when the passive form relies on what Curme calls the "impersonal 'it'" which removes the verb from the realm of any true subject and leaves it as a sort of free-floating assertion of the existence of a condition ("It is raining") we no longer have a simple shift of focus, but rather a shift in what the sentence actually declares. We have not exchanged subject and object: we have removed the subject and substituted nothing or, one might say, we have substituted pseudo-omniscience.
"Mr. Smith said (that) he was pleased." If we say instead "It is said that Mr. Smith was pleased", we have not simply exchanged a subject and an object, for emphasis or any other purpose: we have rung in a new pseudo-subject, whatever or whoever the omniscience is that is encompassed in that "impersonal 'it'".
In short, then, the Columbia's note seems sound and reasonably complete.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I looked up the word 'purport' to understand why it is always used in sentences ...[/nq]
Some of us find that words are at their most useful when combined to form sentences. Your mileage may vary.
[nq:1]The passive form, I would have thought, is when the verb is done by the subject rather than the subject doing the verb. Is this right?[/nq]
loosely put, but ... no. The passive is when the verb is done to the subject.
Fred beat George with a stick. active
George was beaten with a stick by Fred. passive.
[nq:1]Why is the passive use of the verb considered incorrect and what would be wrong if the sentence was "The president purports to have vetoed the proposal" instead of "The president is alleged to have vetoed the proposal"?[/nq]
There's nothing grammatically wrong with either of those, but they have slightly different meanings.
"The president purports to have vetoed the proposal" means that the president says that he has vetoed the proposal but you don't (necessarily) believe him.
"The president is alleged to have vetoed the proposal" means that someone else (not necessarily the president himself) says that the president vetoed the proposal, but you cannot verify that it is true.

In the first case "purport" carries a strong hint that you don't think the president has done what he says; in the second you may or may not believe that the president did what is said, but you want to make it clear that the statement has not been verified. In the second case "is purported to have" could have been used, and that would carry the same connotations of disbelief as in the first case.
Cheers,
Daniel

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I looked up the word 'purport' to understand why it is always used in sentences and I found the following ... The passive form of the verb purport is often used in place of the active form with the same meaning:[/nq]
The passive form is used when someone doesn't want to identify who he claims is doing something, such as purporting, because he's trying to avoid their complaining about him.
It's also used especially when someone is trying to imply that lots of people from the other political party are purporting what is not true, when it is really only a small number of people who claim this, maybe only the speaker's crazy uncle Louis, who is locked in his basement because no one wants to pay for a psychiatric hospital.

It's also used when the speaker is lying, when no one has said or done what he claims others are purporting to say or do.

One should be very careful when he hears a politician, or anyone, saying that "something is purported" with out saying who purports it. In social circles could be an effort not to speak ill of someone, hoping no one will know who is referred to, and it could be that the speaker is in the habit of speaking in the passive, but it public life one should be very wary, because it is likely that the speaker is trying to give an exaggerated impression of who and how many people are on the other side, or that the speaker is outright lying.
[nq:1]The novel purports (or is purported) to be autobiographical.[/nq]
These would not be the same if the novel and the author didn't claim the book was autobiographical, but a third party did.
[nq:1]Some people regard any passive use of the verb as incorrect, and it is often better to use alleged, supposed, or some other synonym in place of purported: The president is alleged (not purported) to have vetoed the proposal.[/nq]
Alleged and supposed are good words. I'd have to examine more cases to say that any passive use of purport is incorrect. If it is only "often" better to use alleged, supposed, etc., I'd have to examine more cases to know when the passive use of purport was incorrect (all the time?) but alleged etc. isn't better. What is the third choice?
[nq:1]The passive form, I would have thought, is when the verb is done by the subject rather than the subject doing the verb. Is this right?[/nq]
No, in the passive form the action is done to the subject. The actor may be specified with a prepositional phrase or in some cases an adverb, but these are often missing.
In the passive the subject is usually "it", "it is purported".
[nq:1]Why is the passive use of the verb considered incorrect and what would be wrong if the sentence was "The president purports to have vetoed the proposal" instead of "The president is alleged to have vetoed the proposal"?[/nq]
Those mean very different things. In one, the president is saying something. In the other, someone else is. Your two choices here do not pick up the complaint voiced in the part of your text that starts "Some people...".
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Using the word "purports"

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