| Should is a modal verb like can or must. Positives You should take it easy. She should go to bed early. We should go somewhere exciting for our holiday. Negatives You shouldn't get angry. He shouldn't work so much. I shouldn't do it if I were you. Questions Should we __________? What should I do? Shouldn't we try to finish it now? Exercise. Chose should or shouldn't. 1. You ______ be so selfish. shouldn't 2. I don't think you ______ smoke so much. should 3. You ______ exercise more. should 4. I think you ______ try to speak to her. should 5. You are overweight. You ______ go on a diet. should 6. Where ______ we park our car? should 7. You ______ never speak to your mother like this. should 8. The kids ______ spend so much time in front of the TV. shouldn't 9. ______ I ___________________________________? should 10. I think we ______ reserve our ______ in advance. should Should We use 'should' for giving advice. You should speak to him about it. He should see a doctor. We should ask a lawyer. We use 'should' to give an opinion or a recommendation. He should resign. He should resign now. We should invest more in Asia. They should do something about this terrible train service. 'Should' expresses a personal opinion and is much weaker and more personal than 'must' or 'have to'. It is often introduced by ' I think'. I think they should replace him. I don't think they should keep the contract. Do you think I should ______ her? We do not use shouldn't where there isn't any obligation at all. Instead we use don't have to or don't need to. We use should and shouldn't to give advice or to talk about what we think is right or wrong. | ShouldShould is an auxiliary verb, a modal auxiliary verb. We use should mainly to:
Structure of Shouldsubject + should + main verb The main verb is always the bare infinitive (infinitive without "to").
Notice that:
Use of Shouldshould: Giving advice, opinionsWe often use should when offering advice or opinions (similar to ought to): EC TIP: People often say "They should..." Usually, the "they" is anonymous and means the government, or the company, or somebody else - but not us!
should: Obligation, duty, correctnessAnother use of should (also similar to ought to) is to indicate a kind of obligation, duty or correctness, often when criticizing another person:
should: Probability, expectationWe use should to indicate that we think something is probable (we expect it to happen):
should: ConditionalsWe sometimes use should (instead of would) for the first person singular (I) and first person plural (we) of some conditionals:
This is not a very important distinction. (More about the use of shall/will and should/would.) should: (If I were you I should...)We often use the conditional structure "If I were you I should..." to give advice.
Note that we can omit "If I were you..." and just say:
In these cases, the phrase "I should" really means something like "you should". should: Pseudo subjunctiveWe often use a special verb form called the subjunctive when talking about events that somebody wants to happen, hopes will happen or imagines happening, for example:
However, this is much more common in American English. British English speakers would probably convey the same idea using should:
Here are some more examples:
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