“It must be clogged.”

English Lesson: It must be clogged.

You tried to flush the toilet at home, but it doesn't flush. You're trying to figure out what's wrong with it. You think this to yourself.

It must be clogged.

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(something) must be (adjective)

You can use "must" in guesses, predictions, and explanations:

Oh my God, you must be so excited!

There must be a lot of pollen.

A: Where's your phone?

B: Oh, I don't know. It must be in my jacket pocket or something.

In the example at top, the man thinks "It must be clogged." "Clogged" is an adjective. Here are some other examples of "___ must be" followed by an adjective:

It must be expensive!

Your mother must be so proud of you!

(something) is clogged

When something gets "clogged", it means that there's something stuck inside of it, and things like air or water can't get through it. Here's a list of things that can get clogged:

  • pipes
  • tubes
  • filters
  • hoses
  • a person's veins or arteries
  • roads

Notice that you use "stuck" and "clogged" differently. In the example of a toilet, you say:

The toilet is clogged.

Something is stuck in the toilet.