Gerundive

Towards more picturesque speech™ →Go uptown SEC guidance on plain EnglishIndex: Click ᐅ to expand: Plain English Drafting Metaphor Tell me more Sign up for our newsletter — or just get in touch: for ½ a weekly 🍺 you get to consult JC. Ask about it here.

A gerundive is a form of a Latin verb, having the (declinable) ending -ndus which functions as an adjective meaning “that should or must be done”.

There is no gerundive in English; the closest you get is a passive infinitive like “books to be read”, combining a transitive verb and its object with a sense of obligation. But wouldn’t you just use the active infinitive and avoid that ugly passive: "books to read".

Latin examples

• quod erat demonstrandum — because that is the very thing one seeks to prove;
• mutatis mutandis — changed in ways that must be changed.

See also gerund, which is capable of social snobbery.