English guide
Separate requirements, prohibitions and optional actions with 20 original workplace questions, complete option explanations and transfer tasks.
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Prepared with AI assistance and published by English AIdol. No human expert review is claimed.
What this guide covers
Compare the explanations and original examples.
Keep the sentence unchanged and justify one option.
Use the distinction in a new workplace sentence.
A workplace notice can require an action, forbid it or leave it optional. Those meanings are different: must not does not mean do not have to. Read the instruction or situation before choosing the expression.
Form matters as well as meaning. Must takes a base verb, whereas have to changes with the subject and tense. This lesson mixes notice interpretation with questions, negatives and passive instructions; the explanations show why each alternative fails in its particular sentence.
The situations and policies below are fictional teaching material. They are not legal requirements or official test items. Your result on this narrow practice set is not a TOEIC score prediction.
These original exercises were prepared by English AIdol with AI assistance. A separate AI content review checked every question, answer explanation and teaching section. No human expert or examiner review, ETS endorsement, or calibrated difficulty is claimed. This page does not save answers or estimate an official score.
Part 5 asks you to complete sentences by choosing from four options. The full TOEIC Reading section has 100 questions and a 75-minute limit. This untimed topic lesson is not a complete or equated test. See ETS: About the TOEIC Listening and Reading Test and the ETS: TOEIC Listening & Reading Score User Guide.
Must expresses necessity here; must not forbids an action; do not have to leaves it unnecessary. An optional invitation cannot be rewritten as a prohibition without changing its meaning.
Use a base verb after must or need not. Have to uses has with a third-person singular present-tense subject, had for past obligation, and have after do, does, did or will.
A passive instruction uses a form of be followed by a past participle. Modal expressions can precede the passive without changing the required base form be.
Ought to introduces advice, while need not have + past participle describes an action that occurred but was unnecessary. Neither automatically expresses a current compulsory rule.
The workshop is optional, so staff ___ attend.
do not have to
Optional removes the obligation. Must not would forbid attendance; must would require it. A colleague may still choose to attend.
Choose the option that completes the printed sentence in standard written English. Keep every other word unchanged. Write your choice and a reason before opening the explanation.
Signing in is compulsory under this visitor policy: all guests ___ register at reception.
(A) must not
(B) must
(C) do not have to
(D) need not
Answer: (B) must
Completed sentence: Signing in is compulsory under this visitor policy: all guests must register at reception.
Attendance at the lunchtime talk is optional; employees ___ join the session.
(A) must
(B) must not
(C) are required to
(D) do not have to
Answer: (D) do not have to
Completed sentence: Attendance at the lunchtime talk is optional; employees do not have to join the session.
Yesterday, the entire repair crew ___ wear temporary identification badges.
(A) had to
(B) has to
(C) will have to
(D) having to
Answer: (A) had to
Completed sentence: Yesterday, the entire repair crew had to wear temporary identification badges.
Every branch supervisor ___ submit a monthly stock report.
(A) have to
(B) having to
(C) has to
(D) to have to
Answer: (C) has to
Completed sentence: Every branch supervisor has to submit a monthly stock report.
All laboratory visitors must ___ the instructions displayed beside the entrance.
(A) reads
(B) reading
(C) read
(D) to read
Answer: (C) read
Completed sentence: All laboratory visitors must read the instructions displayed beside the entrance.
From Monday, delivery drivers will ___ use the new loading gate.
(A) have to
(B) has to
(C) had to
(D) having to
Answer: (A) have to
Completed sentence: From Monday, delivery drivers will have to use the new loading gate.
The caterers did not ___ hire extra chairs because the venue supplied enough.
(A) has to
(B) had to
(C) having to
(D) have to
Answer: (D) have to
Completed sentence: The caterers did not have to hire extra chairs because the venue supplied enough.
You need not ___ a paper receipt; the electronic confirmation is sufficient.
(A) to bring
(B) bring
(C) brings
(D) bringing
Answer: (B) bring
Completed sentence: You need not bring a paper receipt; the electronic confirmation is sufficient.
Photography is prohibited in the archive; visitors ___ take pictures inside.
(A) must not
(B) do not have to
(C) need not
(D) have to
Answer: (A) must not
Completed sentence: Photography is prohibited in the archive; visitors must not take pictures inside.
___ we have to book a delivery slot before sending the shipment?
(A) Does
(B) Are
(C) Do
(D) Have
Answer: (C) Do
Completed sentence: Do we have to book a delivery slot before sending the shipment?
Does Amir ___ to renew his building pass this month?
(A) has
(B) have
(C) had
(D) having
Answer: (B) have
Completed sentence: Does Amir have to renew his building pass this month?
The supplier had to ___ a corrected invoice before payment could proceed.
(A) submitted
(B) submits
(C) submitting
(D) submit
Answer: (D) submit
Completed sentence: The supplier had to submit a corrected invoice before payment could proceed.
New contractors are required ___ the induction before entering the work area.
(A) attend
(B) attended
(C) attending
(D) to attend
Answer: (D) to attend
Completed sentence: New contractors are required to attend the induction before entering the work area.
Returning customers are not required ___ another registration form.
(A) complete
(B) to complete
(C) completed
(D) completing
Answer: (B) to complete
Completed sentence: Returning customers are not required to complete another registration form.
We need not have ___ extra copies; each delegate already had the report.
(A) print
(B) prints
(C) printed
(D) printing
Answer: (C) printed
Completed sentence: We need not have printed extra copies; each delegate already had the report.
Spare access cards must ___ in the locked drawer after each shift.
(A) be kept
(B) keep
(C) been kept
(D) are kept
Answer: (A) be kept
Completed sentence: Spare access cards must be kept in the locked drawer after each shift.
Each manager needs ___ the final budget before it is sent to finance.
(A) approves
(B) approved
(C) to approve
(D) approving
Answer: (C) to approve
Completed sentence: Each manager needs to approve the final budget before it is sent to finance.
Employees must not ___ customer records to a personal email account.
(A) send
(B) sends
(C) sent
(D) to send
Answer: (A) send
Completed sentence: Employees must not send customer records to a personal email account.
The sealed sample box need not ___ opened during the initial inspection.
(A) being
(B) been
(C) is
(D) be
Answer: (D) be
Completed sentence: The sealed sample box need not be opened during the initial inspection.
Before ordering an unfamiliar replacement part, the new assistant ought ___ its specifications.
(A) check
(B) to check
(C) checks
(D) checking
Answer: (B) to check
Completed sentence: Before ordering an unfamiliar replacement part, the new assistant ought to check its specifications.
Explain the distinction in your own words, then try these tasks without copying a practice sentence. The answers illustrate possible responses; alternatives may work where the task allows them.
Rewrite “Staff must not join the optional tour” so it means attendance is a choice.
Staff do not have to join the optional tour.
The original bans attendance. The rewrite removes necessity while allowing staff to choose.
Move the rule to last week: “The installers have to use the side entrance.”
The installers had to use the side entrance last week.
Had to records a past requirement without pretending that must has a regular past-tense form.
Explain the difference: “We did not have to print it” and “We need not have printed it.”
The first says printing was unnecessary without necessarily saying whether it happened. The second normally says it happened unnecessarily.
Do not infer that an unnecessary action was never performed merely from did not have to.
Sources checked on . The examples, questions and explanations are original teaching material, not official or recalled test items. This correction replaces the earlier lesson’s inappropriate IELTS-style scoring. An answer count on these exercises does not convert to an official TOEIC score.
Continue with the TOEIC study page. For a factual correction, see our editorial policy.
No. Both can express obligation. Context and viewpoint matter, and either may fit some sentences. These questions do not force a distinction where both would be defensible.
Use had to for a past obligation: The driver had to show the permit. Do not create a past form musted. Need not have done instead describes an action that happened unnecessarily.
No. The first removes an obligation; the second prohibits an action. Check the policy’s intended meaning before rewriting a notice.
No. These original, untimed teaching questions have not been equated to an ETS form. Use them to explain and practise a language pattern, not to calculate an official score.