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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Linguistics Studies
to be + verb
"To be done" can have two uses, can't it?
1) the salad is yet to be done/completed (pending. non-modal).
2) this job is to be done or I'll see why... (pending. modal obligation)
1) the salad is yet to be done/completed (pending. non-modal).
2) this job is to be done or I'll see why... (pending. modal obligation)
Top answer
Anon: It could be interpreted as a modal form, but the case (grammatically) for that is weak, since it depends not on the words, but the manner of speaking them. Examples of modal forms where the obligation is clear from the words alone - The job must be done ... The job had better be done The job should be done...
- Anon: It could be interpreted as a modal form, but the case (grammatically) for that is weak, since it depends not on the words, but the manner of speaking them.
- Examples of modal forms where the obligation is clear from the words alone - The job must be done ...
- The job had better be done The job should be done...
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9 Answers
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Anon:
It could be interpreted as a modal form, but the case (grammatically) for that is weak, since it depends not on the words, but the manner of speaking them.
Examples of modal forms where the obligation is clear from the words alone -
The job must be done ...
The job had better be done
The job should be done...
It could be interpreted as a modal form, but the case (grammatically) for that is weak, since it depends not on the words, but the manner of speaking them.
Examples of modal forms where the obligation is clear from the words alone -
The job must be done ...
The job had better be done
The job should be done...
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MrPedantic#2 does not strike me as a very natural sequence.How's this one?
MrP
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The first part seems natural. I don't much care for "different but similar". "Similarity" surely already implies "difference".
MrP
MrP
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Anonymous"To be done" can have two uses, can't it?Probably even more than two, really.
1) the salad is yet to be done/completed (pending. non-modal).
2) this job is to be done or I'll see why... (pending. modal obligation)
The difference I sense in these two examples is one of forcefulness.
If the salad is 'yet to be done', somebody
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Any obligation here?
the troops were to be returned from Afganistan
the tax is to be spared to the poor
they handed him over to be killed
the troops were to be returned from Afganistan
the tax is to be spared to the poor
they handed him over to be killed
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<One use of "is to be" that seems to me perhaps really different (in a really different way) is that of
The play is to be presented at the Center javascript:void(0).
This one is relatively obligation-free, I think. Ah, but then there are the actors. Do they get implicated in an obligation here?>
Yes, as a well as expres
The play is to be presented at the Center javascript:void(0).
This one is relatively obligation-free, I think. Ah, but then there are the actors. Do they get implicated in an obligation here?>
Yes, as a well as expres
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<Yes, as a well as expressing futurity, than one has sense of destiny.>
Or expecation, which has a colouring of obligation, IMO.
Or expecation, which has a colouring of obligation, IMO.
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