# should

Pronunciation: say "SHUUD" /ʃʊd/

## Verb

1. Used to say or ask what is right, advisable, or required, or what would have been right in the past.
   - Simple: Used to say or ask what is right or best to do, or what was right to do.
   - _You should try the fish here._
   - _He should have apologized straight away._
2. Used to say that something is probably true, has probably happened, or will probably happen.
   - Simple: Used to say you expect something is true or will happen.
   - _The paint should dry in an hour._
   - _It should be a good match._
3. Used in place of a subjunctive: in conditions for something that may happen, after words of demanding or proposing, and after expressions of surprise or regret about a fact.
   - Simple: Used for something that might happen, after words like insist or suggest, and after words of surprise or regret.
   - _Should the alarm sound, leave the building at once._
   - _It is odd that he should say that._
4. Used with 'see', 'hear' and similar verbs, usually after 'you', to point out something remarkable, good or bad. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used with 'see' or 'hear' to say something is worth noticing.
   - _You should see the queue outside the bakery._
   - _You should hear her sing._
5. Used with I instead of would to give advice, saying what the speaker would do in the listener's place. *(British)*
   - Simple: Used to give advice by saying what you would do yourself.
   - _I should get that looked at, if I were you._
   - _If I were in your shoes, I should wait a day or two before answering an email like that._
6. Used with I or we instead of 'would', in conditions or to sound tentative or polite. Formal or old-fashioned outside set phrases like 'I should think'. *(British)*
   - Simple: Used like 'would' after I or we, often to be polite. It sounds formal except in phrases like 'I should think'.
   - _I should be grateful if you could confirm._
   - _I should think the shops are shut by now._

## Noun

8. Something a person feels they ought to do or be, as opposed to what is really the case, usually in the plural.
   - Simple: A rule or duty you feel you ought to follow, used as a noun, usually in the plural.
   - _Therapy taught him to question every should in his head._
   - _We made a list of shoulds and shouldn'ts._

## Verb

7. Simple past of shall: a reported or past-tense future, used with I and we. Now dated. *(dated)* — simple past of shall
   - Simple: The past form of shall, used in reported speech. This use is old-fashioned.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To keep telling someone, or oneself, what they should do, often in a nagging or guilt-inducing way.

## Origin

"Should" comes from Middle English "scholde," from Old English "sċolde," the past tense of "sċulan" ("to have to, to owe"), the ancestor of "shall." It is related to German "sollte" and Swedish "skulle," and its /l/ probably fell silent through weak stress, as in "would."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/should (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).