The modal verb shall
is mostly used in formal speech and some legal documents. We use the modal verb shall
and the base form of the verb to form sentences. Questions are formed by inverting the subject and shall
. Negatives are formed with not.
Nowadays, the most common use of shall
in everyday English is in questions that serve as offers or suggestions (Shall I? Shall we?).
Shall I order some pizza?
Shall we go now? It's getting late
We can use the modal verb should
:
I think you should study more
Kelly should be at home by now. You can stop by
I ordered some t-shirts 10 days ago. They should come in mail this week
You should never lie to your parents
I should have studied more but I was too lazy
–Shall we go to this new bar?
–Yeah, that doesn't sound too bad.
–Some band should perform there tonight.
–Oh, sounds interesting. Shall we go now? I think it might get a bit crowded on a Friday night.
–Yeah, we should go now. I don't want to be somewhere in the back the whole night.
–Shall I get a taxi?
–No, it's fine. It's just a 15 minute walk from us.
Fill in the gaps with shall or should.
Match the sentences.
a. Shall I call in sick? | 1. I'm not feeling well. | |
b. You should go to the doctor. | 2. The weather is amazing. | |
c. Shall we go to the park? | 3. It might be something serious. |
Answer the questions.
What should we do in case of fire?
What shouldn't people do when they are having an argument?
What should people do to become happy?