A disguised as B

For example:
I am a CIA agent disguised as an English teacher.

  1. A disguised as B. ( intransitive verb, no object)
  2. A was disguised as B by someone. ( transitive verb )

I wonder which is correct.

P.S.
What words can you insert after A?
I am A (who or who have ) disguised as B.
I am A (who was or who is) disguised as B.

Example is fine.

btw, Iā€™ve always suspected Yutaka-san was a CIA agent disguised as an English teacherā€¦

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Iā€™m not sure what your question is exactly. But ā€˜disguiseā€™ can be active or passive.

He disguised himself as a CIA agent.
His friends disguised him as a CIA agent.
He was disguised as a CIA agent.

These are all correct. Does that help?

Can I say ā€œHe disguised as a CIA agent.ā€? ( no object )

No. ā€œHe disguised as a CIA agent.ā€ is wrong. You need an object, or you need ā€œisā€ before the adjective.

Some past participle (passive) forms are also adjectives. ā€œDisguisedā€ is one. Is that whatā€™s confusing? Look at these examples. Can you see which sentence uses an adjective?

Helen was having a bad day. She was cold, she was hungry and she was disguised as a CIA agent.
Helen was disguised by her sister, who was a Hollywood make-up artist.

This chicken is delicious. Was it cooked in the oven?
Is the chicken cooked? Iā€™m starving.

The walls in my apartment are all painted. I donā€™t like wallpaper.
Jim does the plumbing, Matt does the electrics and any walls are painted by Bob.

The street is closed on Mondays for a street market.
I canā€™t buy any vegetables because the shopā€™s closed.

Correct would be:

He disguised himself as a CIA agent.
He was disguised as a CIA agent.

A disguised B as a CIA agent

A disguised B as A disguised as a CIA agent

Umm. He disguised her as a disguised CIA agent; she was a CIA agent disguised as an MI6 agent. She was an English-teacher-turned CIA agent.

love the ā€œanā€ MI6 agent! Next, youĀ“ll be joining the ranks of those of us who still say ā€œan hotelā€. Bliss!

I did not know that MI6 agents have disguises. I just assumed that they were all James Bond.

ā€œIf horrific was pronounced ā€˜orrificā€™ and historic was pronounced ā€˜istoricā€™ then it would be appropriate to refer to ā€˜an istoric occasionā€™ or ā€˜an orrific accidentā€™. In the 18th and 19th centuries, people often did pronounce these words in this way.ā€

ā€˜der gefangene Spionā€™ and ā€˜die gestorbene Mutterā€™
If ā€˜disguiseā€™ is a transitive verb, like ā€˜fangenā€™ in German, its past particle form will have a passive meaning. But in ā€˜a CIA agent disguised as an English teacher,ā€™ It seems that ā€˜disguisedā€™ has only the meaning related to the perfect tense. This is why I feel the expression is strange.
The past particle form of sterben, ā€˜gestorbene,ā€™ does not have a passive meaning. It is only related to the perfect tense in meaning. ā€˜Sterbenā€™ in German is an intransitive verb.

You appear to be an expert in European languages who is disguised as a student of English :slight_smile:
I deleted an earlier contribution because it didnā€™t make much sense (which is sooo unusual for my comments).