(Should/If) any consent of the employer (be/is) required, you should take it

by

Which one is correct ?

Should/if any consent of the employer is required, you should take it.

or

Should/if any consent of the employer be required, you should take it.

Thanks.

Answer

Should any consent of the employer be required, you should take it.

..should is a modal verb, and modal verbs take “bare infinitives” (verbs in their basic form and without the particle to). Be is such “bare infinitive” verb. Hence, we have a combination should + be (modal verb + bare infinitive).

Compare:

  1. I am glad. She is glad. (no modal verbs; the form of the verb depends on the subject: “I” and “She” use different forms of “to be”: “am”, “is”)
  2. I should be glad. She should be glad. (modal verb should makes us use the same basic form of “to be”: “be” instead of “am” or “is”)
  3. I should am glad. She should is glad. (WRONG!)

If any consent of the employer is required, you should take it.

..here you don’t need to place the verb into the bare infinitive form, because it is not attached to a modal verb.

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : discoversf , Answer Author : CowperKettle

Leave a Comment