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Should

[shood]

Example Sentences Origin

auxiliary verb

simple past tense of shall.

(used to express condition): Were he to arrive, I should be pleased.

must; ought (used to indicate duty, propriety, or expediency): You should not do that.

would (used to make a statement less direct or blunt): I should think you would apologize.

Origin:
Middle English sholde, Old English sc(e)olde; see shall

Can be confused: could, should, would (see usage note at the current entry).

Synonyms
3. See must¹.

Usage note
Rules similar to those for choosing between shall and will have long been advanced for should and would, but again the rules have had little effect on usage. In most constructions, would is the auxiliary chosen regardless of the person of the subject: If our allies would support the move, we would abandon any claim to sovereignty. You would be surprised at the complexity of the directions. EXPAND
Because the main function of should in modern American English is to express duty, necessity, etc. (You should get your flu shot before winter comes), its use for other purposes, as to form a subjunctive, can produce ambiguity, at least initially: I should get my flu shot if I were you. Furthermore, should seems an affectation to many Americans when used in certain constructions quite common in British English: Had I been informed, I should (American would) have called immediately. I should (American would) really prefer a different arrangement. As with shall and will, most educated native speakers of American English do not follow the textbook rule in making a choice between should and would. See also shall.

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Should is one of our favorite verbs.

So is lollygag. Does it mean:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

to spend time idly; loaf.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Example Sentences

People who have allergies to dust mites should take some steps to protect themselves.

These should be relevant to the motion, the speakers' statements or the observations of featured guests.

Boat schedules peak in spring and summer, but you should be able to book a trip in any month.

EXPAND

People who have allergies to dust mites should take some steps to protect themselves.

These should be relevant to the motion, the speakers' statements or the observations of featured guests.

Boat schedules peak in spring and summer, but you should be able to book a trip in any month.

They must begin to provide more effective oversight, and the federal government should step in, too.

They should check the lots of the buildings/houses and streets of the nearest town.

The system should be installed after the lawn area has been graded.

The kids should see this, and so should the parents.

The choice should be based on merit, not geography.

Americans should be thankful the storm wasn't a lot worse.

These should offer employment for a few people who move to the town as well as for others who commute.

We should not dignify it as more than that until it is.

Krider is correct that first ladies are often left out of history books, but their influence on history should not be overlooked.

Select the fish with your nose: it should smell ocean-fresh or be odorless.

However, if this really is the case, they should be doing more practical things.

There is no good economic reason why this should be happening.

They should see how many animals they can match with the correct ecoregion.

Science adviser should show his independence, says report.

Who decides, what should be collected, and how do they acquire objects for their collections.

Seedlings in individual pots or cells should be thinned to one plant per pot or cell.

Bird got complacent, and started missing shots he should have made.

There should be no discussion on a polygamy tax, because there should be no tax breaks for marriage.

Make notes about what types of things you feel should be included.

Researchers looking to expand our knowledge of viruses should dip into some raw sewage.

And should you try to cut in front of somebody in the grocery store checkout line, you will be swiftly corrected.

The covering should be intact so the roots are not exposed, and the root ball should feel firm and moist.

Also include notes about how you think your exhibit should be set up.

They should have been viewed as great leaders of their time to the people in their society.

New beds for landscape plants should be amended before any plants go into the ground.

They should focus on these section topics as they do their research, and each student should take notes individually.

But it should be available and understandable to everybody.

At sowing time, the soil should be moist but not soggy.

Each student group should identify the resources used to make their chosen product.

Curiosity is a special bread that everyone should eat.

Pervious concrete should not be installed on slopes without special engineering.

The addresses below are not necessarily the addresses to which you should send your magazines.

People should be able to live there but no government support to rebuild.

We'd gotten rid of the straw but hadn't figured out what, if anything, should replace it.

Students should recognize that changes to the environment in one place can often affect other, distant places.

If the recipe calls for room-temperature butter, it should be soft but not runny.

Their pamphlets should showcase the historic sites they have learned about in the lesson.

The article should be a recent one, published within the last two months.

The charts should take up an entire page, as they'll need to leave plenty of room to write.

They should draw these routes on their maps in different colors.

At the first, they should browse the site to read about this organization's tree planting programs.

The articles should discuss conditions in the town and should contain quotes from people who live and work in the town.

While looking at the maps, students should take notes and summarize the distribution pattern.

They should note their findings in the second column of the chart.

They should be in your yellow pages under collector.

Just because things have always been done a certain way does not mean that is the way things should be done.

Nursing schools should do a better job preparing students.

Long-term, not short-term, fiscal stability should be the priority.

Students should remember to ask and answer geographic questions about the landscape as they experience.

Evolution should be taught as a practical tool for understanding drug resistance and the price of fish.

Flash creatives should be submitted in theswf format.

When you're getting ready to dig, the soil should be neither too wet nor too dry: a handful squeezed in your fist should form a.

Part of the president's speech on the economy should involve unilateral action.

For some swashbuckling reading, young buccaneers should check these books from the nearest library.

Changes are on the way that should ease the grim gauntlet of long lines, security checks and cramped seats.

The large flowers are fragile and should be sheltered from strong winds.

Since he is a programmer and likes to get paid to program, he said education should be free.

Which charities and causes should foundations and families give their money.

But next year, sky-watchers should be prepared for a downpour.

Religious leaders should be held accountable when their irrational ideas turn harmful.

Soil should be fine enough for root development and loose enough so crusting can't check sprouting of seeds.

Here's a quick spoiler-free rundown of what you should.

Doctors should not rush to prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs to all patients until it is determined who might really benefit.

In her mind, the last thing geoengineering should be is an act of desperation.

If crust should form, keep soil soft by sprinkling.

To discover, display and protect the world's antiquities, museums should sponsor excavations.

The dog should never be off-leash or unsupervised in the yard.

Brain scans should not be used for lie detection unless their reliability is proved.

For now, anyone concerned with the sustainability of the ocean should avoid eating these fish.

By the next planting season, the new plants should be ready to go out in the garden.

But the leadoff hitter should make contact or walk.

Then they should find and record the highest and lowest averages for total.

The study suggests that there are other important health reasons why oral contraceptives should be readily.

Digital photographs should be submitted at the highest resolution possible.

We've gathered tips and links to online planning tools that should make.

Stories based on historical events should have a peg and include recent interviews.

As you roll out the dough, you should see veins of butter running through it.

To what extent do you think community colleges should be expected to offer.

Pictures here should show the experiences of traveling and the unexpected joys of encountering the world and making new friends.

Note that a portion of the crushed ice, which should cover the cell, has been removed to provide a better view of the apparatus.

We should actually think of the oceans as the ocean, since they are one interconnected global system.

After that the plants should manage with little irrigation.

Convicted hackers should be sentenced to a lifetime of doing something that is as tedious as what they have inflicted on society.

The colony should contain mountains, rivers, and several major cities.

Cooler-than-average temperatures should help, but hours-long jams in the sun can still pose a problem.

Their stories should spark the imagination, fire the thirst for adventure and fan the flames of independence.

Keep up with weeding, which should be almost nil once plants fill in.

Of all people, they should know the importance of getting vaccinated.

Council members should represent the following interests:.

The findings should help researchers treat other diseases that compromise lung function.

Maybe the guy should have watched the next video before submitting his claim.

Every garden should offer a secluded place to relax.

If so, venture-backed companies should be eligible for innovation grants.

Their descriptions should conclude with a list of practical tips for people who might find themselves in a similar situation.

Anyone with advice on how you should live your life.

Should they allow you to freely watch youtube tonight.

What that measure of control is should not be taken lightly or decided on swiftly.

Should not get reflected heat from wall or pavement.

But the bulbs should be disposed of properly and cleaned carefully if.

With preventable diseases on the rise, the states should get strict on vaccines.

The pictures from today's time should have been taking from similar angles/locations as the original photographs.

Tree is similar to apricot and should be maintained as such.

Lunging faster than their bulk should allow, the two testosterone-crazed males tear at each other with sharp canine teeth.

We think plants that consistently put on exemplary performances should receive their own public acknowledgment.

Most of us are brought up to think they should be white.

They grow fast and should be harvested and used as soon as they are big enough to eat.

Project proposals should engage and involve students in the active research and study of a particular geographic issue/problem.

It should be able to locate other potentially habitable planets and help us understand how they were formed.

The posts and the bench legs should be made of pressure-treated lumber that is rated for ground contact.

Students should consult a dictionary or encyclopedia to research unfamiliar organisms.

Asian pears should be thinned to one pear per fruiting spur and should be picked.

If a dam is built nearby, say, the student who represents water should tug on the yarn.

These branches should be well spaced along the trunk and should radiate in different directions so they don't shade each other.

Then each student who feels the original tug should tug on the yarn, and so.

During the growing season, the soil around the roots should be kept moist but not soggy.

The guidebooks should include pictures and should feature the things that they feel are special about their home regions.

Potting mix for cymbidiums should drain fast yet retain moisture.

Students should also consider how the people use the river as a resource.

Additionally, they should note ways in which people's use of the river is affecting.

They should address the following points, using information they have learned in this lesson:.

If the client is using other vendors, such as musicians, their representative should also attend the walk-through.

Bottles and cans should be rinsed and dried all paper, plastic, and metals should be clean.

The posters should educate people about things they should know and do to protect the ocean and its inhabitants.

Research suggests that if hunting is going to take place, hunters should target only.

The box should be virtually invisible to anyone except those who have followed your clues.

Screening should happen earlier at airport terminals.

Electrical conduit should run inside the counter, rather than through the block cells, wherever possible.

Rosmarinus officinalis should be a simple plant to explain.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

auxiliary verb, present singular 1st person shall, 2nd shall or (Archaic) shalt, 3rd shall, present plural shall; past singular 1st person should, 2nd should or (Archaic) shouldst or should·est, 3rd should, past plural should; imperative, infinitive, and participles lacking.

plan to, intend to, or expect to: I shall go later.

will have to, is determined to, or definitely will: You shall do it. He shall do it.

(in laws, directives, etc.) must; is or are obliged to: The meetings of the council shall be public.

(used interrogatively in questions, often in invitations): Shall we go?

Origin:
before 900; Middle English shal, Old English sceal; cognate with Old Saxon skal, Old High German scal, Old Norse skal; compare German soll, Dutch zal

Can be confused: can, may, shall, will (see usage note at can¹; see usage note at the current entry; see synonym note at will²).

Usage note
The traditional rule of usage guides dates from the 17th century and says that to denote future time shall is used in the first person (I shall leave. We shall go) and will in all other persons (You will be there, won't you? He will drive us to the airport. EXPANDThey will not be at the meeting). The rule continues that to express determination, will is used in the first person (We will win the battle) and shall in the other two persons (You shall not bully us. They shall not pass). Whether this rule was ever widely observed is doubtful. Today, will is used overwhelmingly in all three persons and in all types of speech and writing both for the simple future and to express determination. Shall has some use in all persons, chiefly in formal writing or speaking, to express determination: I shall return. We shall overcome. Shall also occurs in the language of laws and directives: All visitors shall observe posted regulations. Most educated native users of American English do not follow the textbook rule in making a choice between shall and will. See also should.

COLLAPSE

Link To Should

Collins

World English Dictionary

should (ʃʊd)

—vb
	See also shall the past tense of shall: used as an auxiliary verb to indicate that an action is considered by the speaker to be obligatory (you should go) or to form the subjunctive mood with I or we (I should like to see you; if I should be late, go without me)

usage Should has, as its most common meaning in modern English, the sense ought as in I should go to the graduation, but I don't see how I can. However, the older sense of the subjunctive of shall is often used with I or we to indicate a more polite form than would: I should like to go, but I can't. In much speech and writing, should has been replaced by would in contexts of this kind, but it remains in formal English when a conditional subjunctive is used: should he choose to remain, he would be granted asylum

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

shall

O.E. sceal "I owe/he owes, will have to, ought to, must" (infinitive sculan, pt. sceolde), a common Gmc. preterite-present verb, from P.Gmc. *skal-, *skul- (cf. O.S. sculan, O.N., Swed. skola, M.Du. sullen, O.H.G. solan, Ger. sollen, Goth. skulan "to owe, be under obligation;" related via past tense

EXPAND

form to O.E. scyld "guilt," Ger. Schuld "guilt, debt;" also O.N. Skuld, name of one of the Norns). Ground sense probably is "I owe," hence "I ought." The sense shifted in M.E. from a notion of "obligation" to include "futurity." Its past tense form has become should (q.v.). Cognates outside Gmc. are Lith. skeleti "to be guilty," skilti "to get into debt;" O.Prus. skallisnan "duty," skellants "guilty."

should

c.1200, from O.E. sceolde, past tense of sceal (see shall). Preserves the original notion of "obligation" that has all but dropped from shall.

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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

should

In addition to the idiom beginning with should, also see (should) get one's head examined.