Inference Expressed by Should and Must

1.1 The increase in advanced-level programs in English to speakers of other languages has revealed and will continue to reveal gaps and weaknesses in available descriptions of English syntax. This is partly due to the fact that the learner of English as a second language must be given rules for making a choice between linguistic alternatives in situations where the native speaker makes the choice at a subconscious level. For example, should and must are both used to express probability or inference, as in He's absent; he must be sick and He left at five; he should be here soon. The problem for the non-native speaker here is to choose must rather than should in the first example and should rather than must in the second

Inference · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Subconscious · Syntax · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Lexicography and Language Studies · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Psychology