Grammar-Quizzes › Verb Phrases › Verb Groups › Modals › Should vs. Should have
Should vs. Should have
Express expectation, convention or advice
Expectation—should vs. will
| SHOULD |
|---|
Should expresses one's expectation for something to happen in the present or near future. We use should to make an assumption based on personal knowledge, information, or insights. ("inference") |
| EXPECTATION |
The movie should be available online next week. (It has left theaters, so it should go for release online.) |
The movie should be good. (I've read some good reviews.) |
Movie fans should be excited to see the James Bond movie. (They usually are.) |
| WILL |
|---|
Will also expresses one's expectation for something to happen, but with more certainty. We use will for stating information, calculations, or schedules. (See will – certainty.) |
| PREDICTION |
The movie will be available online next week. (It's scheduled.) |
The movie will be here good. (I've read the reviews.) |
Movie fans will be excited to see the James Bond movie. (They always are.) |
insight – understanding the true nature of something; intuition
Should
Convention
Convention—should vs. be supposed
| SHOULD | |
|---|---|
Should expresses one's expectation of behavior based on cultural norms. Cultural expectations come from rules, ethics, and codes shared by social groups. ("social rightness") |
|
| MODAL | PLAIN FORM VERB |
People should |
be honest and not steal creative work. (ethical convention) |
People shouldn't |
talk on mobile phones during movies. (social convention) |
Should we |
wear black pants to work? (fashion convention) |
| (BE) SUPPOSED | |
|---|---|
The same may be expressed with is / are / am supposed, which is followed by an infinitive. (Also, known as be supposed to.) |
|
| PARTICIPLE | INFINITIVE |
People are supposed |
to be honest and not steal creative work. |
People aren't supposed |
to talk on mobile phones during movies. |
Are we supposed |
to wear black pants to work? |
norm – a standard, a model, or pattern
plain form – also called base form, simple form (Huddleston 106)
Should
Options and Advice
Options and Advice—should / had better vs. ought
| SHOULD / HAD BETTR | |
|---|---|
Should / Had better express one's advice usually by giving options to another person. The advice is based on one's sense of "rightness" often moral, but also logical. (Had better is "modal-like" .) |
|
| MODAL | PLAIN FORM VERB |
You should You had better |
try ordering your movies online. (option) |
He should He had better |
ask one of his professors for a recommendation. (option) |
Should he *Had he better |
ask a professor for a recommendation? |
She shouldn't She had better not |
talk on her mobile phone when she's with you. (advice) |
| OUGHT | |
|---|---|
Ought expresses "weak advice", options or solutions used in problem-solving. It is modal-like in that it does not take the auxiliary do. However, its complement is an infinitive (to+verb) rather than a plain form verb. |
|
| EXPRESSION | INFINITIVE |
You ought |
to try ordering your movies online.(option) |
He ought |
to ask one of his professors for a recommendation. (option) |
Ought he |
to ask a professor for a recommendation. (very awkward sounding) |
She ought not |
to talk on her mobile phone when she's with you. (advice) |
*awkward sounding here. Question form: Hadn't you better ask first? Hadn't he thought of this before? (negative question)
try out (verbal expression) – experiment with, do in order to get a particular outcome
Also see: Had Better Should / Should have.
Should have
Failed Expectation
Failed Expectation—should have vs. would have
| SHOULD HAVE | |
|---|---|
Should have expresses a past expectation that was not met, disappointment. What we normally expect did not happen. A should have clause is often followed by a but clause. |
|
| MODAL | PERFECT |
The movie should |
have been available last week. (but it wasn't) |
The mailman should |
have been there an hour earlier. (but he wasn't) |
Students should |
have been nervous about taking their exams last week. (but they weren't) |
| WOULD HAVE | |
|---|---|
Would have expresses a similar meaning, a failed effort. What was scheduled, predicted to happen did not happen. A would have clause is often followed by an reason. |
|
| MODAL | PERFECT |
The movie would |
have been available last week, but the stores ran out of it. |
The mailman would |
have been there an hour earlier, but he stopped for lunch. |
Students would |
have been nervous about taking their exams, but they were well prepared. |
perfect – verb form (have / has / had + participle) – completed: an action or situation that occurred earlier than the present time with focus on the resulting state rather than on the occurrence itself.
Should have
Failed Convention
Failed Convention—should have vs.be supposed
| SHOULD HAVE | |
|---|---|
Should have expresses a failure to meet a social norm or expectation in a past situation. The past is expressed with should+have+participle (perfect verb form) |
|
| MODAL | PERFECT |
People should |
have been honest. (but they weren't) |
People shouldn't |
have talked on mobile phones during meetings. (but they did!) |
We should |
have worn black pants to work. (but we did.) |
| (WERE / WAS ) SUPPOSED | |
|---|---|
Was / were supposed expresses a similar meaning of disappointment in meeting expectations of a past action, activity or event. |
|
| EXPRESSION | INFINITIVE |
People were supposed |
to be honest. (but they weren't) |
People weren't supposed |
to talk on mobile phones during meetings. (but they did.) |
Were we supposed |
to wear black pants to work?(we didn't ) |
had better – is used occasionally in the past: You had better not have eaten the last cookie! (warning)
Should Have
Past – Advice
Should have / Ought to have
| SHOULD HAVE | |
|---|---|
Should have expresses advice that comes too late, after a specific event has already occurred. One evaluates other options that were not taken as possible future remedies. |
|
| MODAL | PERFECT |
You should |
have tried ordering your movies online. (but you didn't) |
He should |
have asked one of his professors for a recommendation. (but he didn't) |
She shouldn't |
have talked on her mobile phone when she was with you. (but she did) |
| OUGHT TO HAVE | |
|---|---|
Ought to have expresses a similar meaning. Ought is followed by a perfect infinite verb form. (ought to is a semi-modal) |
|
| EXPRESSION | PERFECT INFINITIVE |
You ought |
to have tried ordering your movies online. (but you didn't) |
He ought |
to have asked one of his professors for a recommendation. (but he didn't) |
She ought not |
to have talked on her mobile phone when she was with you. (but she did) |
Also see Could / Should Have
Common Mistakes
Errors and Solutions
Error and Solution
| ERROR |
|---|
*We should had left earlier. |
*Do we should take another bottle of water? |
*Should we supposed to wear black pants to work? |
| SOLUTION |
|---|
We should have left earlier. (Use the "perfect" verb form, which does not change to a past form.) |
Should we take another bottle of water. (Use should not do as the auxiliary.) |
Are we supposed to wear black pants to work? |
Grammar Notes (Advanced)
Traditional and Linguistic Descriptions
Traditional / ESL and Linguistic Descriptions
| AZAR / SWAN | BIBER / HUDDLESTON |
|---|---|
| AZAR | BIBER |
Should expresses advisability. It ranges in strength from suggestion to responsibility (duty). Had better and ought to also express this meaning. "This is a good idea; this is my advice; this is an important responsibility." (Azar 9-7) Modal auxiliaries generally express speakers attitudes. Modals can express whether a speaker feels something is:
And a modal can express the strength of the attitude. Each modal has more than one meaning. (Azar 9-1, 10-1) |
Should expresses obligation/necessity: He should leave. (intrinsic (6.6.4.2) [prediction (likelihood): He should leave soon. (extrinsic)] Nine central modal auxiliaries: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would — They differ from other verbs both lexical verbs and primary auxiliaries, in that they have no nonfinite forms. (but have contracted forms I'd, can't, )
Semi-modals → be going (to), ought (to), have (to), need (to), had better, have got (to), be supposed (to) |
| SWAN | HUDDLESTON |
Should expresses:
(Swan 518-521) |
Should is the preterit of shall, but is only used in that sense when "backshifting" tense in a subordinated clause. I shall do it. I thought that I should do it. Should expresses "medium strength" deontic (advice) or epistemic (inference) modality—less than must, "strong".
(Huddleston 3 §9.4) Be supposed to "There are a few adjectives that are morphologically related to the past participles of verbs but whose meaning has changed so that they are no longer comparable to verbal passives with the same form and its connection with passives proper is purely historical." bound, engaged, meant, numbered, related supposed, used (Huddleston 16 §10.1.3) |
Works Cited
- Azar, Betty Schrampfer, and Stacy A. Hagen. Understanding and Using English Grammar. 4th ed., Pearson Education, 2009.
- Biber, Douglas, and Stig Johansson, et al. Longman Grammar Of Spoken And Written English. Pearson Education, 1999.
- Huddleston, Rodney D., and Geoffrey K. Pullum. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge UP, 2002.
- Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage. 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2005.
Practice 1
Viewing Options
Identify the meaning of should.
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "Check" or the "Check 1-5" button.
Practice 2
Mail Order Movies
Which expression means the same as "should have"?
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "Check" or the "Check 6-10" button.
Practice 3
A Faulty Machine
Read for Errors
Do you think we should to take this DVD player back to the store where we bought it? It plays the picture out of sync with the sound.
It should have worked fine. I was watching it this morning and it was all right.
I want to take it back because the salesman should tell us about that problem, but he didn't.
The instructions say that we should restarting the machine to fix the audio-video sync problem.
Am I suppose to restart it three or four times during a movie? That's unreasonable.
We shouldn't have to do that, do we?
You ought to call the store and ask them what you should to do.
I called them and they told me that I should return it to the company that makes it.
I didn't know that I am supposed to keep the original box.
Don't worry. We can buy a box at the post office. They ought to had one big enough.
out of sync – not synchronized or matched together; not having the same timing
Edit for errors.
- Edit the sentence(s) in the text box.
- Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "Check" or the "Check 11-20" button.