The Weekly Column

Article 18, June 2000

SHOULD, WOULD OR COULD?

Many students find the use of modal verbs such as should/ would/ could difficult. It's not always easy to distinguish between them, but the following exercises can be used with students to help them clarify and practise the differences.

Working in pairs, decide which of the following points refer to uses of SHOULD and which of the following points refer to uses of WOULD. Then place the points in the correct columns of the Table:

after certain adjectives (essential/surprised etc)
after certain verbs (suggest/insist etc)
for criticism (I wish you ….. keep picking your nose!)
for refusals (They ….. not let their daughter have her navel pierced)
for things that happened habitually in the past and perhaps still do
to express attitudes you want others to adopt (The applicant ….. have the interviewer believe that he’s the most suitable person for the job even though he’s never done this kind of work before)
to express surprise ( You ….. think they’d know better)
to give advice (If you want to lose weight, you ….. go on a diet)
to make assumptions (Everyone says she’s got a bright future so she ….. get promotion in no time at all)
to make assumptions (It ….. seem/appear that)
to point out inequalities (Why ….. some people be rich while others have no money at all?)
to show surprise (I was walking through Hyde Park the other day when who ….. I bump into but Kim Bassinger)

USES OF SHOULD	USES OF WOULD

ANSWERS: USES OF SHOULD 1/2/8/9/11/12 USES OF WOULD: 3/4/5/6/7/10

Fill in the gaps with should or would:

Why 1 ………. some people find it easy to master a foreign language whereas others find it a struggle? And why 2 ………. some students succeed while others fail? It 3 ………. seem that there is no simple answer. However, if we were prepared to follow certain guidelines, we 4 ………. certainly be more likely to achieve good results. Advertisements for language courses 5 ………. have use believe that by some miraculous process we 6 ………. be able to attain fluency within a matter of weeks. Such claims 7 ………. be taken with a pinch of salt. There is no way you can learn a language overnight. It 8 ………. appear that the process is rather like climbing a mountain. There are times when you reach a plateau and it 9 ………. seem that you are getting nowhere. However, it is essential that you 10 ………. not get disheartened for soon you will start to climb again. The time you spend on the plateau 11 ………. be seen as a period of consolidation without which you 12 ………. be unable to move forward. You 13 ………. think that the more advanced you were, the faster your rate of progress 14 ..…….. be. However, progress is more noticeable at the lower levels as you move from being a zero beginner to being able to communicate in the language. It is only natural that you 15 ………. get frustrated at times and that you 16 ………. feel like giving up. After having put so much time and energy into the task, this 17 ………. be a great shame. It is recommended that you 18 ………. be prepared to experiment and to make mistakes as you can learn from your errors. If I were your teacher I 19 ………. use the Direct Method and hardly ever let you talk in your own language. When I was at school I used to study French. Our teacher 20 ………. make us pay a fine whenever we spoke in English, which soon got us out of the habit!

ANSWERS: 1 should 2 should 3 would 4 would 5 would 6 should 7 should 8 would 9 would 10 should 11 should 12 would 13 would 14 would 15 should 16 should 17 would 18 should 19 would 20 would

Make a list of all of the things you think you should do. Give yourself a ten minute time limit. Now reformulate the items in your list by using the following wording: If I really wanted to I could .....

You will probably find some things now seem much more possible and there are other things which you now want to abandon. Could gives you choice!

Questions or comments about this week's article? Why not post them on our Discussion Forum!