Passive to Active sentences

Question

a man was seen at the intersection, calmly crossing against the light.

How to i change this?

the "was seen" is making it difficult for me.

Answer 1

"someone saw a man at the intersection....."

Answer 2

Perhaps 'a man was observed at the intersection..'

Answer 3

1.  I saw that dude crossing the intersection against the light.

2.  The man was visibly calm as he crossed against the light.

3.  Several witnesses reported an unusually calm man cross against the light.

4.  What does that guy think he's doing?  Anyone can see the light is red, why is he crossing the street, him and that smug look on his face, he's not hurrying, he's practically daring those cars to hit him!

Answer 4

I saw a man at the intersection calmly crossing against the light.

Answer 5

The ball was caught by Jack.

Jack caught the ball.

The difficulty here is that the man can't "see" himself as he could "catch" a ball. So, as others have suggested, you introduce a second party who CAN actively "see" the man.

Another way of putting the observer at arm's length from the subject would be to say "In his mind's eye, the man saw himself...."

Answer 6

"I see a man at the intersection calmly crossing against the light."