student asking question

Is there anything skipped after "be supposed to"? What does "be supposed to" mean here?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Yes, I think that perhaps the speaker has omitted "be" from the sentence. She says "and I'm not supposed to," but it would sound a little more natural if she said "and I'm not supposed to be" instead. Overall, she has used the expression "supposed to be" to express her thoughts that some people with dreams grow up, and that she is perhaps one of those kinds of people although she shouldn't be (isn't supposed to be). "Supposed to be" can be understood as meaning something similar to "meant to be" or "should be." Ex: People are supposed to wear masks in public spaces, but many don't. Ex: I was supposed to travel over the summer, but the pandemic prevented that.

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