Google Books statistics indicate that the use of the expression “if you should” and especially of the expression “if you shall” per unit of text length dramatically and steadily declined since the 1700s, as you can see in this graph. As compared to the 1700s, the former expression is nowadays used about 7 times less … Read more
Suppose one of your clients emailed you a few weeks ago saying that it may want to hold a big conference at a certain conference center. You do not know yet if it has decided to proceed with the plan or cancel it but you realize that if the former is the case, you have … Read more
Usecase: I went out and got drunk yesterday. Now I regret the fact of drinking a lot yesterday. I should not have drunk a lot yesterday. Is that correct? In general: How can I say that I shouldn’t do something in the past? Thanks in advance Answer What you’ve written is perfectly fine. Another common … Read more
After some bad calls using search/replace, I’m curious how many legitimate forms of “could/would/should of” there are. I’m interested in uses that do not derive from, and cannot be replaced by “could have,” “would have,” “should have,” or their contractions. One could of course add a few commas to this paragraph to make it easier … Read more
You should have passed the exam. Can be understood as: You are very smart; the exam is very easy for you; but you didn’t pass the exam. You are very lazy; the exam wasn’t that hard for you, but you failed. How to correctly use should in many contexts like this? Update: Answer to “Can … Read more
I am confused with the usage of ‘should’. For example, when I want to give advice to another person, I feel that it is not polite to say “you should XX” and I would like to add ‘maybe’, just to make the tone softer, milder. Is it true that “you should ” is more appropriate … Read more
In Red-headed League from The adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a character named Wilson describes a weird sight of hundreds of red haired men crowding the area to Holmes. By his account he had been really shocked by this crowd, yet he says ‘I should not have thought there were so many in the whole country … Read more
This usage of "should have" appears to be a Britishism. I wonder if anyone cares to provide an explanation of the British "should have" usages. Several observers have emphasised Dusty Miller’s devotion to the Joyita and reported his insistence that the boat was unsinkable. Why, then, would he willingly have abandoned ship under any circumstances? … Read more
Which sentence is correct? (1) One should avoid the configurations indicated by (i) and (ii), and focuses on setting the values of …. (2) One should avoid the configurations indicated by (i) and (ii), and focus on setting the values of … Answer The meaning is almost certainly that the “focus” is still within the … Read more
It’s grammatical to use “should” like “if”: Should you need me, call. I’ll be available should she ask for me. Should my mother call, let her know I’ll be back shortly. It’s also grammatical to use “should” for “would”: If you call me, I should hope that I answer. When I ask you a question, … Read more
