Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sabrinak]

Hello,

I want to know the following sentences are both correct, akward, or unnatural...

1. The room must be cleaned every day. --> This is correct. I understand.

2. The room must be clean every day. --> Is this correct, or awkward?


Thanks for your kind help.

[pugachevV]

In the second sentence clean is an adjective describing the condition of the room. It is perfectly acceptable to specify that the room must be clean every day. It describes a condition, but it does not mean the same thing as cleaned every day which describes an action that must take place every day.
You can have a room that, upon inspection every day, is clean, but it could have been cleaned last Tuesday.