Written by David S. Wills · November 24, 2022
Today, we are going to take a quick look at an important part of English grammar. It is the phrase “should have,” which can be shortened to “should’ve.” It’s an extremely useful construction for talking about the past and specifically about regrets.
How to Use Should Have
There are two ways to use this structure:
- Should have + past participle
- Should’ve + past participle
As you can see, the latter is an abbreviation (meaning a shortened version). It is more common in speech and informal writing (such as social media posts, blogs, e-mails to friends, and instant messages).
Whenever we say “should have” or “should’ve,” we follow it with the past participle form of the main verb. For example:
- I should’ve studied harder for that example.
Here, the main verb is “to study” but the past participle form is “studied.”
When to Use Should Have
Let’s think about that example sentence again:
- I should’ve studied harder for that example.
When someone says this, we know two things:
- They didn’t study hard.
- They wish they’d studied hard.
In other words, we use “should have” to talk about things that didn’t happen in the past but that we wish had happened.
Here are some more examples:
- I should’ve bought insurance before travelling abroad.
This person didn’t buy insurance but wishes they did (probably because they now need it).
- She should’ve listened to me when I told her to install anti-virus software.
She didn’t listen and presumably something bad has happened that meant she regrets not doing so.
- He should’ve brought an umbrella with him.
He didn’t bring an umbrella and it is likely now raining, so he will regret his choice.
Negative Form: Should Not Have
The opposite of “should have” is “should not have.” Again, there are two versions:
- Should not have
- Shouldn’t have
Actually, if you want to get really informal, there is a third:
- Shouldn’t’ve
It’s a little strange to see two apostrophes in one word, but we do tend to abbreviate this phrase in common speech, so it makes sense.
We use “should not have” to show that something did happen and that we regret it. For example:
- I shouldn’t have eaten so much!
This person has eaten too much and they feel bad about it.
- You shouldn’t’ve spoken so rudely!
This person has spoken rudely and it was the wrong thing to do.
Using Should Have In IELTS
As I mentioned above, there are two ways to say this:
- Should have = formal
- Should’ve = informal
As such, if you use this structure in the writing test, you should use “should have” because you need to avoid abbreviated forms and other types of informal language.
For the speaking test, however, “