"Leela was also supposed to have been with him, but no one knew about her either."
Dear Gustavo Sir
What is the meaning "was also supposed to have been" in the above sentence?
Source : https://www.sahapedia.org/mt-v...nan-lifetime-writing
Thanks in advance 🙏
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@Sundaran posted:Dear Gustavo Sir
Please don't address your questions to anyone in particular. Any of us can decide to answer them. Thank you.
@Sundaran posted:"Leela was also supposed to have been with him, but no one knew about her either."
What is the meaning "was also supposed to have been" in the above sentence?
If you say:
"Leela was also supposed to be with him"
it was supposed that Leela was with him at that moment.
Instead, if you say:
"Leela was also supposed to have been with him"
it was supposed that Leela had been with him at a prior time.
@Sundaran posted:"Leela was also supposed to have been with him, but no one knew about her either."
. . .
What is the meaning "was also supposed to have been" in the above sentence?
I agree with Gustavo that the passive interpretation of "was supposed to have been" is a plausible interpretation. Another possible interpretation is that Leela should have been with him, on which interpretation "was supposed to" is the semi-modal (pronounced "supposta"). The two interpretations actually go together here: people's supposing Leela to have been with him at that place and time led people to expect that she should have been there. In this usage, "be supposed to" and "should have," have epistemic, not deontic, meaning.
Both Gustavo and David are legends 🙏
