Today we visit a commonly misunderstood, mis-analyzed phrase in English: supposed to.
Suppose to is incorrect—there is no such word combination in English.
Supposed to is the correct phrase; it means “expected to” or “should.” In this phrase, supposed is a past participle in a passive voice construction. Compare the phrases in the following sentence:
We are supposed to / expected to / scheduled to have a day off.
In other words, supposed works just like other passives, such as in “She was helped by her friends” but without a “by . . .” phrase. We don’t know who supposed it! We can put by . . . back in to make the grammar more clear:
We are supposed (by some people) to have a day off.
Note that the word to here belongs to the verb, in its infinitive form, to have—and is not part of the verb supposed.
More Examples of “Supposed to” in a Sentence
- A total of 10 matches are supposed to be played at the venue.
- The dawn of AI in medicine was supposed to have come and gone.
- This is, in fact, exactly the opposite of what we’re supposed to do.
- The rocket is supposed to be manufactured by 3D printing as a whole.
- A great parade of knights was supposed to open the tournament at noon.