Ought to vs should

Taniaa

Senior Member
Italia, Italiano
Ciao vorrei sapere quale è la differenza nell'uso di Ought to e Should...
non significano entrmabi 'dovere' al condizionale?
Quali le differenze?

Grazie mille,
Tania ;)
 
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  • _Ibanez_

    New Member
    Italian
    Sapreste dirmi che differenza c'è tra "ought to" e "should"?

    Ciao!
     
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    JillEliza

    Member
    English (USA)
    In the United States we don't say "ought to" when speaking. We say, "should." I think "ought to" means the same thing, and it may still be used in other countries, but in America it would sound old-fashioned.
     

    Einstein

    Senior Member
    UK, English
    I can think of one difference: sometimes in English we use "should" when we really mean "must", usually in polite instructions: "Passengers with nothing to declare should go through the green exit". In these cases we wouldn't use "ought to".

    For other uses I personally tend to say "should" rather than "ought to", but I've read in some text books that "ought to" is so old-fashioned that it's not worth teaching... That really is an exaggeration!
     

    pigieffo®

    Member
    Italian
    Should means "advice"
    Ought to means "moral obligation"

    So there's a difference between them.....

    "You should drive your car more slowly" -> I advice you to drive slowly: driving fast is dangerous, but this is my advice, if you want to keep on, it doesn't matter

    "You ought to take care of your mother" -> You are obliged, your mother is your mother, don't let her alone, you can't do it, probably you mustn't

    all the best
     

    AshleySarah

    Senior Member
    English - N.Ireland
    Should means "advise"
    Ought to means "moral obligation"

    So there's a difference between them.....

    "You should drive your car more slowly" -> I advise you to drive slowly: driving fast is dangerous, but this is my advice, if you want to keep on, it doesn't matter

    "You ought to take care of your mother" -> You are obliged, your mother is your mother, don't let her alone, you can't do it, probably you mustn't

    all the best
     

    suppamine

    New Member
    italiano
    Should means "advice"
    Ought to means "moral obligation"

    So there's a difference between them.....

    "You should drive your car more slowly" -> I advice you to drive slowly: driving fast is dangerous, but this is my advice, if you want to keep on, it doesn't matter

    "You ought to take care of your mother" -> You are obliged, your mother is your mother, don't let her alone, you can't do it, probably you mustn't

    all the best

    I would rather invert these examples :)
     

    Einstein

    Senior Member
    UK, English
    Really thinking about it, I could probably agree with pigieffo, but in practice I consider the two forms as interchangeable.

    Going back two years, a clarification should be made about post #11: I see "advice" has been corrected to "advise". In reality "advice" is the noun and "advise" is the verb (I've looked for AE/BE differences but they don't seem to exist on this point).

    PS from a google search "take our advise" is outnumbered 4:1 by "take our advice". If "advise" as a noun were the standard American form I think it would outnumber "advice". Maybe an American can comment.
     
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    kap

    Senior Member
    english/italiano (bilingual)
    Ciao.
    Tornando all'argomento principale (Ought to vs. Should), posso offrire un modesto contributo:
    l'azione consigliata con "ought to" implica che la persona che offre il consiglio abbia a cuore il beneficio che risulta per chi la fa o per chi la subisce;
    "you ought to remind him, he's probably forgotten you're waiting for an answer"
    "we ought to book up now or we may end up not finding tickets"
    l'azione consigliata con "should" può implicare un beneficio, ma è spesso del tutto imparziale e non tenta di valorizzare in nessun modo l'esito dell'azione;
    "you should spend less time on Maths and devote more energy to Science"
    "we shouldn't visit Aberdeen before spending a week in Edinburgh"
    Questo è un tentativo di distinguere l'uso dei 2 ausiliari. Non so se ho ragione, magari è solo uno spunto per chi sa più di me.
    kap
     
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