‘Should’, ‘would’, ‘could’ are modal auxiliary verbs that can be defined as past tense of ‘can, ‘shall’ and ‘will’.
SHOULD
‘Should’ is the past tense of shall and can be used in different ways. Since Should Is a modal auxiliary verb it takes only the base form of the verb, Ex: Should + come (come -v1) let’s discuss about it with examples.
- We often use should to express something that is probable.
Examples:
- “Mano should be here by 2.00 PM.”
- “He should come along with his friends.”
- “The work should be completed before 5 PM.”
- We often use Should to ask questions
Examples:
- “Should we come tomorrow?”
- “Should I complete the task?”
- “Should they bring their own costumes for the farewell?”
- We often use Should to give advice or to give opinion
Examples:
- “You look so exhausted .You should go to bed.”
- “You should eat lots of protein in order to stay healthy.”
- “The government should help the people in this pandemic situation.”
- We often use Should with I think / I don’t think / Do you think?
Examples:
- “I think the project should be given to the best Engineer.”
- “Do you think it is necessary to call Sanjana and ram? Yes, you should call them.”
- “I don’t think you should work so hard.”
COULD
‘Could’ is the past tense of can and it is used to describe the ability in the past or possibility .Since could is a modal auxiliary verb it also takes only the base form of verb.
Ex: Could + complete (complete – v1). Let’s discuss with examples.
- We often use could to suggest a possibility
Examples:
- “It could rain tonight.”
- “The weather is so gloomy so we could go for a walk.”
- “When you come to India, you could stay with us for a month.”
- We often use could to make a polite request
Examples:
- “Could you please give me your pen?”
- “Could you please move a bit?”
- “Could you please give me Sheba’s address?”
- We often use could to talk about the past ability
Examples:
- “I could run 10 miles when I was young.”
- “I listened, I could hear something.”
- “In those Days people could lit fire using stones.”
WOULD
‘Would ‘is the past tense of will and is used in different ways. Since, would is also a modal auxiliary verb it also takes only the base form of verb. Ex: Would + give (give -v1).Here we go with the different uses of would.
- We often use Would when we imagine a situation
Example:
- “If I had a lot of money I would own a BMW one day.”
- “If I were the president of my company, I would make a lot of changes.”
- “I would move to japan if I knew Japanese.”
- We often use Would in reported or indirect speech
Example:
- “She said that she would come at 8 PM.”
- “Mano said that he would come to India next month.”
- “Uma said that she would bring the books.”
- We often use Would to make a polite request and question
Examples:
- “Would you like to have coffee?”
- “Would you like to sit here?”
- “I would like to come to your house.”