should

[ridvann]

Hello,

ENGLISH PAGE - Should

should (obligation)

I should be at work before 9:00.
We should return the video before the video rental store closes.

"Should" can also express something between recommendation and obligation. "Be supposed to" expresses a similar idea and can easily be used in the past or in negative forms.

NO NEGATIVE FORMS

Can we use this form with question forms (?) and negative question forms(?) together also?

Thanks...

[Raymott]

Hello,

ENGLISH PAGE - Should

should (obligation)

I should be at work before 9:00.
We should return the video before the video rental store closes.

"Should" can also express something between recommendation and obligation. "Be supposed to" expresses a similar idea and can easily be used in the past or in negative forms.

NO NEGATIVE FORMS

Can we use this form with question forms (?) and negative question forms(?) together also?

Thanks...

Yes, we can. Why don't you try.

[ridvann]

It is the part of the page. I have read we can't use a negative sentence with 'should' if the sentence we construct is refering to should (obligation).

Could you please check the page? Because if you do it, you will see the page written ''NO NEGATIVE FORMS".

[Raymott]

It is the part of the page. I have read we can't use a negative sentence with 'should' if the sentence we construct is refering to should (obligation).

Could you please check the page? Because if you do it, you will see the page written ''NO NEGATIVE FORMS".

Yes, I've looked at the page. I don't completely agree.
"I should be at work before 9:00."
I don't understand why they wouldn't accept "Shouldn't you be at work before 9:00?" as a negative question with same base meaning. They might argue that this changes it from a "supposed to" form to an "ought to" form. The nuances there are too subtle for me to agree with.

What they might be trying to say (and this is consistent with their other examples) is that you can't say "I shouldn't be at work before 9:00" to mean the negative of "I should be ..." It's true that if you wanted to say "I don't need to be at work before 9:00", ie. the opposite of "I should be ..." there is no appropriate form using "should".