Shall and should examples

While “should” and “shall” are similar words, they have distinct meanings.

Use these “should” and “shall” sentence examples and guidelines to help you understand which one you should use for your situation.

Both “should” and “shall” are helping verbs or auxiliary verbs.

They work with another verb to refine the meaning. However, the meaning they add is different.

Shall and should exercises

Ultimately, they indicate whether something might happen or definitely will happen. While it might sound subtle, that’s actually a very important distinction.

When you say something should happen or someone should do something, you aren’t saying that thing is definitely going to happen.

There’s a degree of uncertainty that goes with this word. It may mean it would be good if this thing occurred or the thing is likely to occur, but it is not a guarantee.

• You’ve had a sore throat for three days, so you should see a doctor.
• I should get more sleep at night.
• The bus should arrive at 8:30.
• I’m not sure where Jessica is right now, but she should be here soon.
  shall and should in a sentence
  shall and should meaning