User Contributed Dictionary
Etymology
Old English sceolde, preterite form of sculan.Pronunciation
- /ʃʊd/, /SUd/
-
- Rhymes: -ʊd
Verb
should (simple past of shall)- The speaker—but not necessarily the subject of the sentence—intends for the subject to execute the sentence predicate.
- The subject of the
sentence is likely to
execute the sentence predicate.
- Contrast with stronger auxiliary verb must, which indicates that the
subject certainly will execute the predicate.
- You should be warm enough with that coat.
- Contrast with stronger auxiliary verb must, which indicates that the
subject certainly will execute the predicate.
- If; in case of.
- Should you need extra blankets, you'll find them in the closet.
Usage notes
- See the usage notes at shall.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
The speaker intends for the subject to execute
the sentence predicate
The subject of the sentence is likely to execute
the sentence predicate
If; in case of
Extensive Definition
A modal verb (also modal, modal auxiliary verb,
modal auxiliary) is a type of auxiliary
verb that is used to indicate modality.
The use of auxiliary verbs to express modality is characteristic of
Germanic
languages.
Function
Modal verbs give additional information about the
mood of the main verb that
follows it. In other words, they help to incorporate or add the
level of necessity: (must = obligation, requirement, no choice);
(should = recommendation); (can/could = it is possible); and
(may/might = option, choice).
Most modal verbs have two distinct
interpretations, epistemic (expressing how certain the factual
status of the embedded proposition is) and deontic (involving
notions of permission and obligation). The following sentences
illustrate the two uses of must:
- epistemic: You must be starving. (= "It is necessarily the case that you are starving.")
- deontic: You must leave now. (= "You are required to leave now.")
- ambiguous: You must speak Spanish.
- epistemic = "It is surely the case that you speak Spanish (e.g., after having lived in Spain for 10 years)."
- deontic = "It is a requirement that you speak Spanish (e.g., if you want to get a job in Spain)."
List
This table lists some modal verbs with common roots in English, German and Dutch. English modal auxiliary verb provides an exhaustive list of modal verbs in English.The words in this list are not translations of
each other! Words in the same row share the same etymological root. But,
because of semantic
drift, words in the same row may no longer be proper
translations of each other. For instance, the German verb "dürfen"
is closer in meaning to the English verb "may" than to its cognate
"dare".
For German and Dutch, both the plural and
singular form of the verb are shown. In English, the plural and
singular form are identical.
The English could is the past tense of can,
should is the past tense of shall and might is the past tense of
may. These verbs have acquired an independent, present tense
meaning. The German form möchten is sometimes taught as a
vocabulary word and included in the list of modal verbs, but it is
actually the past subjunctive form of mögen.
The English verbs dare and need have both a modal use (he dare not
do it), and a non-modal use (he doesn't dare to do it). The Dutch
verb durven is not included in the list because its modal use has
disappeared, but it has a non-modal use analogous with the English
dare.
Properties
Germanic modal verbs are preterite-present
verbs, which means that their present tense has the form of a
vocalic preterite. This is the source of the vowel alternation
between singular and plural in German and Dutch. Because of their
preterite origins, modal verbs also lack the suffix (-s in modern
English, -t in German and Dutch) that would normally mark the third
person singular form:
The main verb that is modified by the modal verb
is in the infinitive form and is not preceded by the word to
(German: zu, Dutch: te). There are verbs that may seem somewhat
similar in meaning to modal verbs (e.g. like, want), but the
construction with such verbs would be different:
In English, main verbs require the auxiliary verb
do to form negations or questions. Modal verbs never use this
auxiliary do:
Modal verbs are called defective
verbs because of their incomplete conjugation: they have a
narrower range of functions than ordinary verbs.
See also
Bibliography
- The Syntactic Evolution of Modal Verbs in the History of English
- Walter W. Skeat, The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology (1993), Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
External links
should in Danish: Mådesudsagnsord
should in German: Modalverb
should in French: Verbe modal
should in Dutch: Modaal werkwoord
should in Norwegian Nynorsk: Modale
hjelpeverb
should in Polish: Czasownik modalny