5 exercises — practise expressing near-certain predictions with "bound to".
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "bound to" to express a near-certain prediction about scaling issues?
"Without connection pooling, the service is bound to run out of database connections under load" correctly uses "be bound to + bare infinitive" to express a near-certain prediction. Option B incorrectly follows "bound" with a gerund instead of "to + infinitive". Option C incorrectly conjugates "bound" as a main verb ("bounds"), which is not how this fixed expression works; it requires "be bound to". Option D confuses this prediction sense with the unrelated "bound for" (heading toward a destination), which does not fit this context.
2 / 5
Which sentence correctly distinguishes the prediction sense of "bound to" from the separate, unrelated "bound by" (constrained by rules)?
"Legacy code like this is bound to break eventually; the vendor contract is bound by strict SLA terms" correctly uses "bound to + infinitive" for the confident prediction and the separate expression "bound by" for being constrained by rules. Option B swaps the two prepositions onto the wrong clauses. Option C uses "bound for", which fits neither meaning here, and drops the required "by" in the second clause. Option D is missing the infinitive marker "to" in the first clause and incorrectly stacks "by to" in the second.
3 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "bound to" in the past to describe a predictable outcome that indeed occurred?
"Skipping code review was bound to cause a regression, and it did" is correct: past tense "was bound to" plus the bare infinitive expresses that the outcome was entirely predictable, confirmed by the follow-up "and it did". Option B incorrectly uses a gerund instead of the bare infinitive. Option C is missing the required auxiliary "was" before "bound". Option D incorrectly conjugates the verb after the infinitive marker "to", which requires the bare form.
4 / 5
Which sentence correctly negates "bound to" while keeping the same confident-prediction meaning about an unlikely event?
"A well-tested rollback plan is not bound to fail, but nothing is completely risk-free" correctly places "not" before "bound to", negating the prediction cleanly. Option B places "not" awkwardly inside the infinitive phrase, which is non-standard for this expression. Option C is missing the infinitive marker "to" before the bare verb. Option D incorrectly treats "bound" as a regular verb taking "doesn't", which does not match the fixed "be bound to" structure.
5 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "bound to" to make a confident claim about adoption of a new internal tool?
"Once people see how much faster it is, the new CLI is bound to become the team default" correctly uses "be bound to + bare infinitive" for a confident prediction about future adoption. Option B is missing the infinitive marker "to" before "become". Option C incorrectly conjugates "bound" as a main verb instead of using the fixed "be bound to" structure. Option D incorrectly follows "bound to" with a gerund instead of the bare infinitive.