Re: usage of should

"riti" <priyanshu.j@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1182330992.245091.257430@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
hi,
can anyone explain me meaning of should in the following sentence:
i should like to see the report by tomorrow.

how is the meaning of this sentence different from:
i want to see the report by tomorrow

AFAICT, they have the same meaning.

plz tel me which is better and in which context- formal/ informal

This is tricky, for me anyway. 'Should' is defined by my COD as the "past of
'shall'" (and, incidentally, 'would' is the past of 'will'). For 'should', it
gives the example, "I should like to say something", which is similar to your
example. In the first person, 'shall' indicates an emphatic intention, which
fits the examples (i.e., 'should' fits better than 'would', even though 'would'
might be more common these days). What I don't understand is that nothing in
either example appears to be in the past. Even so, I am confident that your
'should' case is as correct as you can be and is the more appropriate for
formal writing.



.

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