Catherine's Grammar Explanation: 'Should have' + past participle for advice about the past
Hi Sylvia! Don't worry, we're here to help you! Matt made 3 mistakes at his job interview. Firstly, he
wasn't very well prepared, secondly, he didn't wear a clean shirt and thirdly, he was late!
When we want to talk about mistakes we made in the past, we can use 'should have' with a past
participle, like this:
Matt: It's my own fault really, I should've prepared more carefully for the interview.
Did you hear it? Should - have - prepared. Matt didn't prepare for the interview, but now he realizes
that was a mistake. Did you notice the way he shortens 'should have' to 'should've'? Listen again:
Matt: I should've prepared more carefully for the interview.
Elena uses both a positive and negative form of should have with a past participle to give her opinion
of events in the past. Remember, Matt wore a dirty shirt and he was late for his interview.
Task for challenger: Matt had a job interview recently, but he wasn't successful. What did he
do wrong?
Matt: I didn't get the job. It's my own fault really, I should've prepared more carefully for the
interview.
Elena: And you should've worn a clean shirt. And you shouldn't have been late!
________________________________________________________________________7
Page 2 of 2
Elena: And you should've worn a clean shirt. And you shouldn't have been late!
Positive: should've worn; negative: shouldn't have been
So, if we want to give advice or opinions about past events which didn't go so well, we can use 'should
have' or 'shouldn't have' with a past participle, to talk about where we went wrong.
That's all from me, ________, good luck with your grammar challenge!
______________________________________________________________________________
Grammar Tables: 'Should have' + past participle for advice about the past
When we want to talk about mistakes we made in the past, we can use 'should have' with a past
participle.
Positive & negative
Subject should have /
shouldn't have
past participle
Matt
should've prepared more carefully for the interview.
He should have worn a clean shirt.
They shouldn't have been late.
Question form
Should /
shouldn't
subject have past participle
Should Matt
have prepared more carefully for the interview?
Should he have worn a clean shirt?
Shouldn't they have arrived early?
lesson mp3
click[left]
