USING SHOULD HAVE TO EXPRESS REGRET OR REPROACH


Should, as we know, is a modal auxiliary which typically offers advice or expresses moral duty to
act. [1]  For example:


            Mike:   I have a brief due at the end of the week.

            Mary:   You should work on it tonight.  You shouldn't go out.


Mary is giving Mike advice regarding actions he should or should not take if he wants to finish
writing his brief in time.  Following is another example:


            Bob:    Would you like to go to the movies, Sue?

            Sue:    Thanks, but I'm afraid I can't.  I have depositions all day tomorrow,

and I should organize everything tonight.


Sue is expressing her (social, ethical, or moral) duty to work late, rather than to go to the
movies, if she wants to stay organized the next day.


Now look at the following examples:


            Mike:   I didn't work on my brief, and I finished it late.

            Kim:    You should have worked on it every night till it got done.


Sue:    I went to the movies the night before my depositions.  Everything was disorganized and
chaotic when we deposed the witnesses.

Kim:    You should not have gone to the movies.  You should have stayed at the office and organized
all your files.


Kim is not advising Mike and Sue.  It is too late for advice.

Kim is reprimanding, or reproaching them.


Look at the following example:


            Larry:  Did you have a good time at the party?

            Bob:    No, I didn't.  I shouldn't have gone.  I knew I would see my old girlfriend
with another guy!!  I should have done something else.


Bob is not expressing the need to act.  It is too late.  Bob is expressing his regret at having
gone to the party.  He regrets that he did not do something else.



The should (not) have construction does two things –


1.    points to the action taken; [2]  and

2.    says that the action taken was wrong / incorrect.




                                             EXERCISES



Directions:     RESPOND to the following situations with a reprimand or reproach.


Example:        I ate three hot dogs and now I feel sick.


                        You shouldn't have eaten so many of them.

                        You should have eaten just one.




1.         I couldn't understand a word he was saying.





2.         I think I caught a cold over the weekend.




3.         John lost a lot of money in Las Vegas.





4.         I have a terrible hangover today.





5.         We were only an hour away from the Grand Canyon, but we never went.






                                     ANSWER SHEET TO EXERCISES



Directions:     Respond to the following situations with a reprimand or reproach.



NOTE:           The following responses represent typical, or possible answers to these
statements.              They are not the only possible answers, however.


1.         I couldn't understand a word he was saying.


            You should have asked him to speak more slowly.

            You should have asked him to clarify his points.



2.         I think I caught a cold over the weekend.


            You shouldn't have gone jogging in the rain.



3.         John lost a lot of money in Las Vegas.


            He shouldn't have gambled so much.

            He should have set a limit for himself in advance.



4.         I have a terrible hangover today.


            You shouldn't have drunk so much.

You should have taken an aspirin before you went to sleep.  I heard that really helps when you’ve
had too much to drink.



5.         We were only an hour away from the Grand Canyon, but we never went.


You should have gone.  You shouldn't have missed it.  It's so beautiful.



________________________________

[1] Lawyers!!   Note that should expresses moral duty to act.   Should cannot be used to express
legal duty to act.  To express legal duty to act in the affirmative (command or requirement), use
must or have to.  (“You must /  have to file a response to the complaint within 30 days of
receipt.”)  To express legal duty to refrain from acting, in other words, prohibition from acting
use must not or may not.  (“If a woman is charging your client with rape, you must not / may not
enter into evidence a description of the clothing she was wearing at the time of the alleged rape
in most states, including Illinois.  ‘No means no,’ is the rule in most states.”)

[2] Action taken is expressed in the past participle, also known as the third form of the verb.  In
the verb “go,” the past participle is “gone.”  It is the third form:  go / went / gone.  The past
participle of regular verbs, such as work or file, is the same as the simple past:  worked and
filed.