Somehow, I managed to teach ESL for over 10 years before I learned what this is. The expression “is supposed to” is called a semi-auxiliary verb. In the sentence in the title, “study” is the main verb.
The expressions below are all called semi-auxiliary verbs. They are followed by the main verb.
This is one of the best things we’ve implemented in programs where I’ve taught for three reasons:
1. It has helped students improve their reading and writing skills, and grammar, and vocabulary.
2. It adds NO EXTRA WORK for teachers.
3. It costs relatively little money.
As most teachers in the field already know, one of the best ways for students to improve their skills is to do more reading. (See A True Story to Motivate Students to Read More a detailed example). However, adding more reading assignments usually means more work for the teacher—in the form of worksheets or quizzes or feedback in some way—because students need to be held accountable for actually doing the assignments.
