At one time, the majestic American chestnut was so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could jump from tree to tree without once touching the ground between New York State and Georgia.
At one time, the majestic American chestnut was {so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could }jump from tree to tree without once touching the ground between New York State and Georgia.
(A) so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could (B) so prevalent that a squirrel was said that it could (C) so prevalent for a squirrel to be said to be able to (D) prevalent enough that it was said a squirrel could (E) prevalent enough for a squirrel to be said to be able to OA是A,我选的B,A,B都是被动,为什么A比B好?
比较it was said a squirrel could和a squirrel was said that it could 前者用的是it was said形式主语,it指代后面的整个句子,符合语法习惯,意思为据说一只松鼠可以。。。 而后者a squirrel was said that不符合语法表述,意思很模糊,好像在说 一只松鼠被说它可以。。。很别扭
"I was said that Ireland is a great country." seems to be either just plain wrong OR in the wrong tense and missing a "t":
"It is said that Ireland is a great country." (i.e., lots of people often say this)
It may be theortetically possible to concoct a sentence where "I was said" could be used, but it would be fairly unusual:
"Apparently I was said to be the best sales person in Europe. I guess that's why the company hired me."
Regarding the second sentence: "I was told that Ireland is a great country" = Reported speech referring to a specific past conversation and the opinion ("is a great country") is expressed as a fact. You can also replace the "is" with "was" --- which is probably what most grammar books would "expect", but not necessarily what most native speakers would say.