Advice and Criticism

Few people like receiving advice or criticism, but many like giving advice and criticizing! In fact, giving advice and criticism is pretty easy! In English, we tend to use the modal verb should.

To give advice, we simply use the structure should + infinitive verb:

I should apologize to them.
You should listen to me.

He should send her roses.
They should ask us for help.

(So, do it!)

The should advice refers to actions that have not happened yet. On the other hand, when we criticize, we criticize action that didn’t happen in the past.

To criticize past actions, we simply use the structure should + present perfect:

I should have apologized to them.

(But I didn’t apologize to them.)
You should have listened to me.
(But you didn’t listen to me.)

He should have sent her roses.

(But he didn’t send me roses.)
They should have asked us for help.
(But they didn’t ask us for help.)

So the moral of the story is… if you pay attention to good advice, you'll avoid criticsm!