The Modal Verb 'SHOULD' | Super Easy English 20

Hiya,  

welcome to another new  episode of Super Easy English.

So today, I want to look at the modal 'should'.

Now other examples of modal verbs would be;

can, could, must, might, may.

Now 'should' can be used,  mainly to either give advice,

or to make a recommendation.

So here are three perfect scenarios

where you can use the model 'should'.

Now before we get started,

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here we go.

So let's ask the question;

what is the purpose of the word 'should'?

Now I can think of three  purposes for the modal 'should';

advice, obligation and expectation.

Now 'advice' or 'recommendation',

is an opinion which I might give  to you, a stranger or as a friend.

For example, if you've  broken your leg, I might say;

you know, you should see a doctor.

Now for 'obligation', 'should'  is used for an objective truth,

where it can take the place of the word 'must'.

For example, you should pay your taxes.

Now 'expectation', is an estimate or a guess.

For example, mmm... you should arrive by tomorrow.

However, of all of these three,

I would say that 'advice' or 'recommendation',

is the most prominent use of the modal 'should'.

Now let's look at how we can  use should to give advice.

I believe you can separate the  uses into three separate segments;

ourselves, others and things.

For 'ourselves', you can use  'should' in the first person.

For example, I should exercise more.

'Others' is for other people.

For example, you should work harder.

And 'things' represents objects.

For example, this should work.

Now luckily, you can use should  in all three senses in the past,

the present and the future.

Now modal verbs such as 'should',

always have to come in combination  with a verb to complete them.

Now I often hear non-natives putting the verb

a bit too far at the end of the sentence

when using the modal 'should'.

For example; ''I should now fix the car'',

or ''I should tomorrow go to work''.

Now with the modal 'should',

the verb must be present exactly  after you use the word 'should'.

For example; I should fix the car today,

or I should go to work tomorrow.

So in even simpler terms,

your sentence should look something like this;

I should _____ and then the verb.

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Now back to the episode.

Now, as you may have just seen,

one of the great things  about using these modal verbs

is that you don't have to change anything

when you are talking in the  present or the future tense.

However, when we're talking in the past tense,

we do need to change things around a little bit.

So two things need to change;

the first, is you need to use the word 'have'

directly after the word 'should'.

So, I 'should have'.

And then you must use the past participle

of the verb you're looking for.

For example; I should have worked yesterday.

It's important to also say

that you can shorten this to 'should've',

which is a shortening of 'should have'.

So, I should've worked yesterday.

Now maybe that's a bit complicated,

but what should make things a bit easier for you,

is if you want to use the  negative of should; 'shouldn't',

then all the rules still apply.

Now, let's see if we can apply all of this

to the three scenarios I  showed you at the beginning

and see if you can apply all of the  grammar around the modal 'should'.

I should leave the lights on.

I shouldn't sleep in my bed anymore.

I exorcised the chair, that should have helped.

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And we'll see you next week,  

te-ra.