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Strange That She Should Say That: Evaluative Should

By the end: I can distinguish evaluative should from obligation and preserve the speaker’s reaction.

Created by Denis M., British English teacher.

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Student asks · Teacher explains

Student asks: In 'It's strange that she should say that', is 'should' telling her what she ought to say?

Teacher explains: Here the speaker is reacting to the remark, not giving her an instruction. Compare 'You should apologise', which can express advice or duty. After 'strange', 'should' belongs to the expression of surprise or evaluation. The surrounding situation still matters: this form alone does not tell you everything about whether the remark happened or is only being considered.

Three things to remember

Separate a reaction from advice or a duty.
Use the surrounding account to check whether the event happened.
Keep an earlier event earlier when using 'should have'.

Still confused? Let’s look again.

Student asks again: Are 'It's odd that he should have left without a word' and 'He should have left a note' the same criticism?

Teacher explains again: The first presents his leaving as odd; 'have left' places that event before the reaction. The second can criticise his failure to leave a note. One evaluates the departure, while the other identifies something he ought to have done. Do not decide the job of 'should have' from those words alone; read the whole surrounding expression.

A reaction, not an instruction

After words such as strange or surprising, should can mark the speaker’s reaction to an event or possibility. It need not mean someone has a duty.

It’s strange that she should say that.

I’m surprised that he should know the answer.

The ivory-reference woman makes a surprising statement during a professional conversation, holding a small ordinary folder. Denis and the bob woman react with naturally raised eyebrows and puzzled attention rather than instructing her to do something. — It is strange that she should say that.Should contributes to the evaluative construction, not an instruction.

Locate the evaluated event

A perfect infinitive can place the evaluated event earlier. Compare that with an ordinary demand or expectation expressed by should.

It’s odd that he should have left without a word.

He should have left a note.

Check context and alternatives

A version without should may be natural. Preserve whether the context confirms an event, merely considers it, or imposes a requirement; the modal alone cannot settle all three.

It’s strange that she said that.

It would be strange if she said that.

Keep a confirmed remark separate from a possibility

The context confirms the remarkIt’s strange that she said that.

The reaction is to a remark treated as having happened.

The remark is only being consideredIt would be strange if she said that.

The speaker imagines the remark rather than confirming it.

The version without evaluative should can be natural. Choose the paraphrase that matches the supplied context; should alone does not establish whether the remark happened.