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Should, ought to and had better - Coggle Diagram
Should, ought to and had better
We can often use either should or ought to talk about obligations and recommendations (e.g. You should / ought to finish your homework before you go out) and probability (e.g. It should / ought to be ready by now) although in general should is used more frequently. Ought to is used particularly in speech, and most often to talk about obligation rather than probability.
When we conclude, on the basis of some evidence we have, that something is certain or very likely we can use must but not should / ought to:
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We use should / ought to + have + past participle to talk about something that didn't happen in the past, and we are sorry that it didn't.
We often use this pattern to indicate some regret or criticism, and the negative forms shouldn't / oughtn't to have are almost always used in this way.
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We also use should / ought to + have + past participle to talk about an expectation that something happened, has happened, or will happen:
If the flight was on time, he should / ought to have arrived in Jakarta early this morning.
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We can use had better instead of should / ought to, especially in spoken English, to say that we think it is a good idea to do something:
If you're not well, you'd better ask Clare to go instead.
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Note that the negative form is had better not, and in questions the subject comes after had.
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