• Same value with OUGHT TO : non-absolute necessity / the obliga° is

toned down (by –ED because OUGHT is a preterit form):

(71) Poor Alice! […] she sat down and began to cry again. "You ought to be
ashamed of yourself," said Alice, "a great girl like you".
(From : Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, 1865)

OUGHT TO generally considered +neutral than SHOULD, because obliga°

seen as independent from the speaker

But both can lead to expressing advice

• NEED: obligation or logical necessity
(72) (Tripadvisor review for a restaurant in Florida) “Cakes. Cheesecakes.
Chocolate. Nothing more need be said!” (https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-
g34534-d2536207-i249543846-Captain_s_BBQ-Palm_Coast_Florida.html)

NB : do not mix up modal NEED

and lexical V ‘need to’
- Modal NEED is not followed
by TO and functions as an aux. :
NEED I go ?
You NEEDN’T go.
+ like all modals, does not take
an ‘S’ with 3rd p. singular
- Modal NEED cannot be used in
assertions: *He need go.
• BE TO can also express obliga° (gloss : il est impératif que…):
(73) Directions​: You are to choose ​two novels​ from the list below. As you
read, you are to complete a READING JOURNAL for each novel…
(https://belvideresummerreading.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/7/1/23714254/english_2_summer_reading.pdf)

• With the negative:

you mustn’t…, you can’t…
Obliga° de ne pas

you needn’t…you don’t have to… you don’t need to…

=> Absence d’obliga° de.. /non-obliga° de…
6) Expressing probability
MAY + MIGHT / MUST / SHOULD / OUGHT TO / (WILL) / (SHALL)

• MUST : strong probability (80-90%)

(74) He must be thinking about another
woman.
 Gloss : It is highly probable that…

• MAY : 50-50 probability

(74’) He may be thinking about another
woman.
=> Gloss: It is likely that…
• MIGHT (MAY + -ED) : weaker probability (20-30%)
(74’’) He might be thinking about another woman.
 Gloss: It is unlikely but still possible that…

• SHOULD : logical necessity of SHALL, toned down by –ED => high

probability
(75) “It’s been over a month since the consultation ended – they should
have made a decision by now."
(https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9626316.cabinet-boss-concerned-by-delays-to-decision-on-southamptons-
150m-port-expansion/?action=complain&cid=10242216)
 Gloss : il est très probable, selon toute logique (vu que cela fait déjà un
mois), que leur décision soit prise à l’heure qu’il est.
 OUGHT TO is equivalent and can replace SHOULD in such cases

• WILL / SHALL: probability so high that they are used to express the future
(see lecture section VIII)
7) Expressing the conditional
 WOULD / COULD/ SHOULD
Hypothetical/conditional possibility :
(76) “Neil Robertson believes he could/would have ‘done amazing things’ in
his career if he had moved from Australia to the UK earlier.”
(https://www.eurosport.com/snooker/uk-championship/2020-2021/uk-championship-snooker-2020-neil-robertson-admits-regret-
over-not-moving-to-uk-sooner_sto8016316/story.shtml)