5 ways to use ’SHOULD’ in English

We use “should” when we want to express a recommendation, give advice, give our opinion, ask a question, and more. In this important grammar lesson, I’ll cover the many uses of the auxiliary verb “should” and give you lots of examples to help you understand. I will also teach you some short forms, such as the short form of “should have” and its slang version. Many people write “should of”, but that is incorrect. Watch to find out why. You should really watch this video if you want to improve your English! Take the quiz: Make sure you watch the other two videos in this series: 1. 5 ways to use ’COULD’: 2. 9 ways to use ’WOULD’: TRANSCRIPT Hello. I’m Gill at engVid, and today we have a lesson on the use of the verb “should“, and it’s an auxiliary (modal) verb. “Should“. So, there are particular ways you can use it. Okay? And this lesson links with two other lessons; there’s one on “could“ and there’s one on “would“, so please look out for those as well. Right. So, “should“. How do you use “should“? So, first of all, you can use it in a question. For example: “Should we invite the neighbours to our party?“ You’re having a party, the people who live next door - the neighbours. You might be thinking: “Well, they’re nice people; we get on well with them. We don’t want them to be disturbed if the party gets noisy, or they may be upset to know that we’re having a party and we didn’t invite them, so there are all these questions to think about: Should we ask...? Should we invite them?“ Or: “Do you think they will like our other friends?“ So: “Should we...? Should we?“ It’s like saying: “Ought we“. So, there’s another word: “ought“, which is also used in the same way. “Ought we to...?“ But “should“ is more usual. “Should we invite the neighbours to our party?“ And then you have to decide yes or no. You might invite them and they might say: “Oh, sorry. We’re going out that night already. We have something else.“ Or they might come; it depends. So: “Should we“ used as a question. Okay. Meaning, you know: “Would it be a good idea to?“ Okay. Second sentence is when you’re telling someone what is a sensible thing to do; what is a good idea to do. “You should...“ What you ought to do, again. “You ought to... You should look both ways before crossing the road.“ You have to look to see: Is...? Is there any traffic? Are there cars coming? Buses? To be safe, you have to look both ways. So: “You should look both ways before crossing the road.“ It’s a sensible thing to do. It’s the right thing to do. Okay. And then this one, this one is a little bit old-fashioned and it sounds rather formal, but maybe in a formal situation, like if you’re taking an exam and the person organizing it is being very formal with everybody; or there may be a notice up on the wall somewhere in a room, which might say: “Should you wish to do so, you may go for lunch at 12:30.“ So, “should“ here is the same as saying: “if“. It’s just like “if“. “If... If you like, if you want to, if you wish... If you wish to do so“ is a little bit formal, again. That’s a little bit formal, but you might see it written up on a notice. So: “Should you wish to do so, you may go for lunch at 12:30.“ That is an acceptable time to go. If you want to go for lunch, 12:30 is the time. So that’s instead of “if“. Okay. But it’s a little bit old-fashioned in style. Okay. Another one, this one begins with “if“, but it’s different from the previous one. So, somebody may have been asking: “How long will it take me to get to London from here?“ So, you may be two hours away by car, so the person would reply: “If... If you take the motorway“-which is the quickest way; the motorway-“you should be there in two hours“. So, there’s a very good possibility, almost 100% possibility that you will be there. Instead of saying “will“... I mean, that person doesn’t know for sure you will be there in two hours; nobody can predict. But: “You should be. 99% sure that you... That... That you will be.“ So, “should“ is 99% sure or certain that you will be there in two hours. It will take you two hours, driving, to arrive in London. Okay. So: “If you take the motorway, you should be there.“ There’s every possibility that you will be there in two hours. Okay. And then, finally, the neighbours are back again. We... So, it looks like you didn’t invite the neighbours to the party and perhaps they were upset, either because you didn’t invite them or because of the noise that was made at your party with maybe loud music and so on, going late into the night. So: “We should have invited the neighbours to our party, but it’s too late now.“ It’s 3 o’clock in the morning, 4 o’clock in the morning, and the neighbours are maybe banging on the wall, trying to get us to stop the noise. […]