We have a situation: someone saw the boy break the window. Can I make this passive sentence?
The boy was seen to break the window.
I use Murphy's Grammar and this structure is never discussed.
Answer
"The boy was seen breaking the window"
... as snailboat recommended is more common, but not more correct. I believe "the boy was seen to break the window" would be grammatically correct.
Consider what happens if you swap "seen" with "known": "The boy was known to break the window." No problem there - that's a common way to say it.
That said, I would still prefer "breaking" over "to break". "The boy was seen breaking the window. He was known to break windows frequently."
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