On Mon, 18 Nov 1996, Burkhard Leuschner wrote: > > She was supposed to be elated. > > Carolyn, > > 1. This is a passive sentence. > The corresponding (non-existent) active sentence might be: > People supposed her to be elated. > 'to be elated' would be an object complement, which makes it a subject > complement in the passive sentence - as you say. > > 2. 'suppose' is a regular full verb - why should it all of a sudden turn > into some kind of auxiliary, of whatever kind? > There are some uses in which "is supposed to be" is a passive sentence, such as The defendant was supposed to be innocent. In the passive use, however, there is an intonation contour in which the second syllable of "supposed" lengthens. The sentence, "She was supposed to be elated," does not have the passive sense in my use. It is not a case of someone supposing her to be elated. Here "was supposed" is a synonym of some kind for "should." A test for the difference is to insert the following kind of phrase--"was going to be." If the sentence is passive, it should be possible to insert such a phrase. (A) The defendant was going to be supposed to be innocent. Awkward but okay. (B) She was going to be supposed to be elated. Doesn't work for me. Third example (C) He's someone I'm gonna be supposed to know. Insertion works best when the form is contracted. Virtually, Terry (*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*) Terry Lynn Irons [log in to unmask] Voice Mail: (606) 783-5164 Snail Mail: UPO 604 Morehead, KY 40351 (*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)=(*)