5 exercises — practise the formal be to-infinitive pattern in release notes, policies, and runbooks.
0 / 9 completed
1 / 9
Which sentence correctly uses "be to" to express a formally scheduled future plan in a release document?
"Is to be deployed" is correct: the formal "be + to-infinitive" structure (here in the passive, "be to be + past participle") expresses a fixed, official plan or schedule, commonly used in release notes, contracts, and formal announcements to sound authoritative and impersonal. Option B scrambles the word order into an ungrammatical sequence. Option C moves "to be deployed" into the subject position, breaking the sentence structure. Option D omits the required auxiliary "is" before "to", leaving "be to deployed" ungrammatical since "be" needs a finite auxiliary form (is/are/was/were) to function in this structure.
2 / 9
Choose the sentence that correctly uses "be to" to issue a formal instruction in a compliance policy.
"Are to be rotated" is correct: "be to" + infinitive is a formal way of stating an obligation or rule, similar in force to "must", frequently used in policy and compliance documents where an impersonal, authoritative tone is expected. Options B, C, and D all scramble the word order of the infinitive phrase and auxiliary in ways that are not grammatical English sentence structures — "to rotate are", "rotating to be", and a sentence ending in "are" after a fronted infinitive phrase are not valid arrangements for this construction.
3 / 9
Which sentence correctly uses "be to" combined with a negative to express a prohibition in a security policy?
"Are not to be stored" is correct: the negative particle "not" is placed immediately after the auxiliary "are" and before "to be", following standard English negation placement — this "be + not + to-infinitive" pattern is the standard formal way to express a strict prohibition. Option B places "not" incorrectly between "to" and the base verb structure ("to not stored" is also missing the required "be"). Option C places "not" before "are", which is not a valid position for sentence negation in this structure. Option D places "not" after "to be", separating it from the auxiliary it needs to attach to, producing an unnatural and non-standard sequence.
4 / 9
Choose the sentence that correctly uses "be to" in a past-tense narrative to describe a plan that was later cancelled.
"Was to be completed" is correct: past tense "was/were + to be + past participle" describes a plan that existed in the past and, as the contrasting clause confirms, did not happen — this is a standard formal pattern for describing unfulfilled past arrangements. Option A ("was to have completed") mixes in a perfect infinitive unnecessarily and awkwardly, which is not the standard form for this meaning. Option C incorrectly uses present tense "is", which clashes with the past time reference "last quarter" and the past-tense contrasting clause. Option D scrambles the auxiliary order ("was be to"), which is ungrammatical.
5 / 9
A rollout plan states: "If the canary deployment fails, the rollback _____ triggered automatically." Choose the correct "be to" form expressing a predetermined conditional plan.
"Is to be triggered" is correct: in conditional sentences describing predetermined technical procedures, "be to be + past participle" expresses what is formally arranged to happen if the condition is met — a common pattern in runbooks and incident-response documentation. Option B ("is to being") incorrectly uses a gerund form where a past participle construction with "be" is required. Option C ("to be is") and option D ("be is to") both scramble the auxiliary and infinitive marker into orders that do not form grammatical English, since the auxiliary must precede "to be" directly.
6 / 9
Reviewer: 'The API endpoint should be to handle up to 10,000 requests per second. We need to monitor this closely during the initial rollout.'
Which of the following responses best reflects a constructive and technically accurate comment regarding this statement?
The original statement uses 'be to' in a way that suggests an inherent design characteristic rather than a planned capability. While 'adequate' correctly identifies that the response lacks detail for monitoring, it doesn't address the problematic use of 'be to'. The correct phrasing would be 'is designed to', which more accurately conveys the intended functionality and allows for measurable outcomes. 'Insufficient' is incorrect as the statement *does* state a target, but needs further elaboration. 'Correct' is misleading because 'be to' isn't the most precise technical term here.
7 / 9
Reviewer: 'The API endpoint should be to handle up to 10,000 requests per second. We need to monitor this closely during the initial rollout.'
Which of the following responses best reflects a constructive and technically accurate comment regarding this statement?
The original statement uses 'be to' in a way that suggests an inherent design characteristic rather than a planned capability. While 'adequate' correctly identifies that the response lacks detail for monitoring, it doesn't address the problematic use of 'be to'. The correct phrasing would be 'is designed to', which more accurately conveys the intended functionality and allows for measurable outcomes. 'Insufficient' is incorrect as the statement *does* state a target, but needs further elaboration. 'Correct' is misleading because 'be to' isn't the most precise technical term here.
8 / 9
Reviewer: 'The API endpoint should be to handle up to 10,000 requests per second. We need to monitor this closely during the initial rollout.'
Which of the following responses best reflects a constructive and technically accurate comment regarding this statement?
The original statement uses 'be to' in a way that suggests an inherent design characteristic rather than a planned capability. While 'adequate' correctly identifies that the response lacks detail for monitoring, it doesn't address the problematic use of 'be to'. The correct phrasing would be 'is designed to', which more accurately conveys the intended functionality and allows for measurable outcomes. 'Insufficient' is incorrect as the statement *does* state a target, but needs further elaboration. 'Correct' is misleading because 'be to' isn't the most precise technical term here.
9 / 9
Reviewer: 'The new microservice should be to integrate with the existing authentication system via OAuth 2.0.' Which of these options best completes this statement in a code review comment?
'Be to' here indicates a planned or designed purpose. 'Due to' correctly expresses that the integration is *because* of the authentication system's requirements. The other options – 'ensure,' 'designed for,' and 'prepared by'— use different structures to convey similar meanings, making them incorrect choices in this context.
What will I practise in ""Be to" Structures in Technical English — IT Grammar Exercise"?
Practise the formal be + to-infinitive pattern for scheduled plans, instructions, prohibitions, and unfulfilled past arrangements in release notes, policies
How many exercises are in this module?
This module has 9 multiple-choice exercises, each with instant feedback and a full explanation of the correct answer.
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