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Some of those are contextual, but "ought to be done" is certainly future tense, it's referring to a future activity. It's a pretty apt example for future passive, juxtaposing the future active "will be done."

Or at least that's how I reason it. English is rather hard to analyze sometimes.



'something ought to be done' is also contrasted with 'something is done'. It's no different to 'should' in that regard.

"I am having a party next week." That's a present continuous sentence referring to a future activity.

Some argue that English doesn't even have a future tense. For these things it certainly is lacking, along with German it seems.


> "I am having a party next week." That's a present continuous sentence referring to a future activity.

What about "I will have a party next week" or "there will be a party next week"?

> Some argue that English doesn't even have a future tense.

I learned this as: There's no language feature that denotes future tense (like a suffix), but it's done via grammar (and context).

I have to acknowledge that I'm not the right person to be debating this. Like most native speakers, my grasp of the rules often boils down to whether something "sounds" right.


> 'something ought to be done' is also contrasted with 'something is done'. It's no different to 'should' in that regard.

Ought and should express objective and subjective opinion respectively.


Grammatically, it is present tense. Semantically, it is future time. And, for kicks, etymologically, it is past tense (owe - ought).




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