Emotion in discourse: the use of should

What is it about?

Should in subordinate nominal clauses was originally used to express negative feelings such as sorrow or surprise. Even though this use of should is now generalized to a number of other contexts, a hint of this negative feeling can be recovered in the more intellectual, less emotional, contexts.

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Why is it important?

An initial emotional value is exploited in formal contexts, the original negative emotional value being used as a built-in foundation for more elaborate meanings.