supposed to vs must

[ostap77]

What would be the difference, if one said?

"We are not suppossed to smoke in this room."

OR

"You are supposed to ask the teacher If you want to leave the class room."

What would be the meaning of "supposed to" close to? You should, ought to, must or have to?

[ostap77]

What would be the difference, if one said?

"We are not suppossed to smoke in this room."

OR

"You are supposed to ask the teacher If you want to leave the class room."

What would be the meaning of "supposed to" close to? You should, ought to, must or have to?

[ostap77]

Sorrry ! Kind of anxious to get a clarfification.

[riquecohen]

[QUOTE=ostap77;663371]What would be the difference, if one said?

"We are not suppossed to smoke in this room." It isn`t permitted.

OR

"You are supposed to ask the teacher If you want to leave the class room." It is a requirement.

What would be the meaning of "supposed to" close to? You should, ought to, must or have to?[/QUOTE]
The meaning would depend on the context.

[ostap77]

[QUOTE=riquecohen;663607]

What would be the difference, if one said?

"We are not suppossed to smoke in this room." It isn`t permitted.

OR

"You are supposed to ask the teacher If you want to leave the class room." It is a requirement.

What would be the meaning of "supposed to" close to? You should, ought to, must or have to?[/QUOTE]
The meaning would depend on the context.

So it pretty much depends on the context. It might be close in the meaning to must,should,ought to. have to?

[riquecohen]

I agree that a lot depends on context. In general, I would say that it´s closer to must and have to. On the other hand, you could be invited to a party and find that you´re running a bit late; it´s now 8:15. You say to your companion, "We were supposed to be there at eight." Here we can see that it wasn´t a requirement, but was only a good idea; in this case, I think should have might be a closer definition.

[e2e4]

/A learner/

I prefer gerund to infinitive this time.

We are not supposed smoking in this room.

[Raymott]

/A learner/

I prefer gerund to infinitive this time.

We are not supposed smoking in this room.

You might prefer it, but you'd be wrong.

[BobK]

So it pretty much dpends on the context. It might be close in the meaning to must,should,ought to. have to?

Context is important (as always), but my sense is that 'supposed to' is generally less strongly imperative, and refers to 'the letter of the law' (=what is written, officially). This allows for cases like 'We're not supposed to leave school for lunch, but everybody does.'

b

[ostap77]

/A learner/

I prefer gerund to infinitive this time.

We are not supposed smoking in this room.

It's not the first time you are mistaken. Keep'em to yourself.
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