LEARN ENGLISH with Dan16 Apr 2025

MUST HAVE BEEN and SHOULD HAVE BEEN

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to focus on using the modal verbs MUST, SHOULD and OUGHT TO with the present perfect. We use them together to talk about something we thought would happen but didn’t.

This will be easier to understand if we look at an example together. If you’re waiting for someone, but they still haven’t arrived, you might feel worried or even angry. If they don’t have a long way to travel or they started their journey to meet you a long time ago, you could say “He SHOULD HAVE arrived by now!” You might feel frustrated or concerned. “He SHOULD HAVE arrived by now!”

Notice that after the modal verb SHOULD we use HAVE without ‘to’. So don’t say “He SHOULD to HAVE arrived”. That’s wrong. So, “He SHOULD HAVE arrived”. It’s also important to note the pronunciation here. HAVE is a grammar word, so the pronunciation is weak. So really we say “He SHOULD’VE arrived”, “He SHOULD’VE”.

You could also use OUGHT TO as it means the same thing. “He OUGHT TO HAVE arrived”. This is less common but you will hear people use it. If you are sure this thing has happened, you can say “He MUST HAVE arrived” or “He MUST’VE arrived”. So you are sure that this has now happened.

So, remember. When you use the present perfect after these modal verbs to talk about something you think has happened by now, don’t use ‘to’. “He SHOULD’VE arrived by now”. OK, now go to ANGLOPOD.COM to learn more English online. You SHOULD’VE done this by now! See you soon!

Learn more: https://www.anglopod.com

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