Should

Should indicates obligation and probability.

Example:

  • You should come home early.
  • You should not smoke at all.
  • I should visit my parents more often.
  • There should be an extra key for the lock in the drawer. (probability)
  • He should have reached by now. (probability)
  • I should have done that. (obligation in the past)

Ought to and had better sometimes replaces should.

Example:

  • You ought to come home early.
  • We ought to have taken a taxi. (Past)
  • We had better leave. (Had better is generally used in spoken English.)
  • I think parents ought to give children more freedom. (Had better won’t be appropriate here.

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