Grammar Practice in Context - David Bolton, Noel Goodey 1997

30 Should/ought to Had better Should have/ought to have

Quick reference

We use:

• should/shoutdn't or ought to/oughtn't to + infinitive to say something is or isn’t the right thing to do. You should go to the dentist s. You oughtn’t to smoke

• should/shouldn’t, etc. + be + -ing to say that something should (shouldn’t) be in progress now.

You shouldn’t be watching television. You ought to be working

• had ('d') better (not) + an infinitive without to to say that something is (isn’t) the right thing to do. We use it with /and we to talk about an immediate intention.

It's late. I’d better go. This liquid may be poisonous. We’d better not touch it.

We use it with you or he, she, it, they when we’re giving advice or a warning about the present or the immediate future.

She looks ill. She’d better stay in bed. You've had too much to drink. You’d better not drive.

• should have/ought to have/shouldn't have/oughtn I to have + a past participle to say that something in the past was a mistake.

/ didn't pass the exam. I oughtn’t to have been so lazy. I should have worked harder.

• should (n’t) have been or ought(n’t) to have been + -ing when we talk about something that should(n’t) have been in progress at a particular moment in the past.

When he was knocked down, he was using his mobile phone. He should have been watching the traffic. He oughtn’t to have been using his phone.

• should/shouldn’t and ought to/oughtn’t to to talk about how probable something is, or what we expect to happen in the future.

/ don't have to work late today, so I should be home by 6.00.

I gave her a map, so she shouldn’t get lost.

1 Stephanie Reed works for a computer software company. She is a workaholic. She works at least 12 hours a day. She only gets home from the office at 9 p.m. She smokes a lot. She eats a lot of junk food. She does not spend much time with her family. At the moment she is driving home from work. She is very tired and she is doing 160 k.p.h. on the motorway. She has got one hand on the steering wheel. With the other she is eating a pizza. Is Stephanie doing the right thing? What do yon think? Write eight sentences, using should/ought to + infinitive and should/ought to + be + -ing (or their negative forms).

1 ... work so fiard.

2 ... home earlier.

3 ... smoke so much.

4 ... so much junk food.

5 ... more time with her family.

6 And now ... so fast.

7 ... both hands on the steering wheel.

8 ... a pizza when she’s driving.

2 Last night Lucy Cage went to a country pub near her home to listen to a new Australian group. She did not tell her parents where she was going. She did not look at the bus timetable and when she arrived at the bus-stop she found there were no buses. She decided not to get a taxi. She walked alone along the dark road that led to the pub. She tried to get into the concert without paying, but the doorman saw her and made her pay. During the evening she behaved very stupidly. She went up to the group and tried to kiss the lead singer. The doorman told her to leave and got her a taxi. When the taxi arrived at her house, she refused to pay the driver. Her father was angry with her and called her an idiot. Her mother tried to calm things down. Lucy said she would not come into the house until her father had apologised. He would not apologise. Her mother told her to come in and they would talk about it the next day. But Lucy would not listen. Write eight sentences about what you think Lucy and her father did wrong. Use should(n’t) have or ought(n’t) to have + past participle.

1 ...

2 ...

3 ...

4 ...

5 ...

6 ...

7 ...

8 ...

3 Match what one person says on the left with the replies of the other on the right.

1 The travel agent said the hotels on Anguilla get full very quickly.

2 When shall we go?

3 I’m not sure when I can get two weeks off work.

4 I’ll ask my boss tomorrow.

5 It’s going to cost us twice as much as last year’s holiday.

6 And we were going to change the car this year.

7 We could spend less money on the house and on clothes.

a) Is it? Perhaps we’d better go somewhere cheaper.

b) Yes, we could. I’d better not buy that new suit.

c) Well, we’d better not. We can’t afford that as well.

d) We’d better book straight away then.

e) Yes, you’d better.

f) Well, you’d better find out.

g) I don’t know, but we’d better decide quickly.

1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7...

4 Tom is telling a friend that he can probably meet him later. Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first, using forms of should.

1 I’ll probably have finished work by 4.15.

I ... by 4.15.

2 So I’ll probably be able to catch a bus at about 4.30.

So I ... at about 4.30.

3 There probably won’t be much traffic at that time.

There ... at that time.

4 So I’ll probably be able to meet you in town at 5.00.

So I ... at 5.00.