... can automatically use statistics to report sports news that reads like it was..

● Another robot called Stats Monkey can automatically use statistics to report sports news that reads like it was written by a journalist.


This is a sentence from an exam for Korean highschoolers.

I don't see any errors in this sentence but it is said that 'reads' is ungrammatical.

Then, what should be in the sentence instead of 'reads'?

wotcha said:

● Another robot called Stats Monkey can automatically use statistics to report sports news that reads like it was written by a journalist.


This is a sentence from an exam for Korean highschoolers.

I don't see any errors in this sentence but it is said that 'reads' is ungrammatical.

Then, what should be in the sentence instead of 'read'?

Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with the original.

One feature of the passive is that it often lets the writer conceal the culprit: 'it is said' by whom? In that sentence, 'reads' is not ungrammatical. It is medio-passive. As it is perfectly grammatical, I'm not sure what to do about your last question. :-? But 'news that seems to have been written...' [etc] is another possibility. I fear, though, that the present perfect infinitive (especially in the passive) is regarded by some as overly formal.

b