subjunctive mood

[jiang]

Dear teachers,

In my grammar book it reads that both "I should bemore careful if Iwere you " and "I shouldn't have done it if it hadn't been necessary" are correct. It read that "should" bears the same menaing with "would" but it can only be used after "I" and "we". Does it mean the two are interchangeable? And is it true that they bear the same meaning?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by jiang

Dear teachers,

In my grammar book it reads that both "I should bemore careful if Iwere you " and "I shouldn't have done it if it hadn't been necessary" are correct. It read that "should" bears the same meaning with "would" but it can only be used after "I" and "we". Does it mean the two are interchangeable? And is it true that they bear the same meaning?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

The paradigm for 'shall/will' is as follows:
Present
I shall/, you will, s/he will, it will, they will, we shall
Past
I should, you would, s/he would, it wouls, they would, we should

'shall/should' is used for 1st person singular and plural, whereas 'will/would' is used for all the other persons and numbers.

Please note, 'shall' has merged with 'will' in American English:

American English
I would be more careful If I were you.
I wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been necessary.

[jiang]

Dear Casiopea,
Thank you very much for your explanation. Now I see.

Jiang

[Casiopea]

You're Welcome.