Passive Modal Combinations in Technical Requirements
5 exercises — practise forming passive modal structures correctly in specs and requirements.
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
Which sentence correctly forms a passive modal structure to state a mandatory validation requirement in a specification?
"All input fields must be validated before submission" is correct: the passive modal structure requires modal + "be" + past participle, so "must be validated" is properly formed. Option A omits the required "be" after the modal, leaving an ungrammatical bare past participle. Option C incorrectly uses the -ing form "being" instead of the base form "be" after the modal. Option D uses the active bare infinitive "validate", which would mean the fields themselves perform the validating, the opposite of the intended passive meaning.
2 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses a passive modal structure to make a recommendation, not a strict requirement, about a code review process?
"Every pull request should be reviewed by at least one other engineer" correctly forms the passive modal with "should" (recommendation, weaker than "must") plus "be" plus the past participle "reviewed". Option B omits "be" after the modal. Option C uses the bare noun/verb form "review" instead of the past participle "reviewed". Option D incorrectly uses "being" instead of "be" directly after the modal.
3 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses a passive modal structure with "can" to describe an optional configuration capability in documentation?
"The timeout value can be configured in the settings file" correctly forms the passive modal "can be configured", indicating the timeout value is the thing acted upon, appropriate since values don't configure themselves. Option B omits "be". Option C incorrectly uses the -ing form "configuring" instead of the past participle "configured". Option D uses the active bare infinitive "configure", which reverses the intended passive meaning.
4 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses a passive modal perfect structure to state that something should have happened already but did not, appropriate for a postmortem finding?
"The alert threshold should have been adjusted before the incident occurred" correctly forms the passive modal perfect: modal + "have been" + past participle, expressing a criticism that a past action which should have occurred did not, standard in postmortem findings. Option B uses the simple passive modal "should be adjusted", which loses the past, unfulfilled-obligation meaning required here. Option C omits "been", leaving an incomplete passive perfect. Option D incorrectly uses "having" instead of "have" after the modal.
5 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses a passive modal structure with "may" to describe a permitted but non-mandatory action in an API specification?
"Additional query parameters may be included in the request" correctly forms the passive modal "may be included", expressing that this is permitted but optional, a common pattern in RFC-style API specifications. Option B omits "be" after the modal. Option C uses the bare form "include" instead of the past participle "included". Option D scrambles the word order into an ungrammatical sequence.