Quote Originally Posted by oldboy View Post
[/I]Firstly, why is should rather than would used here? Should is only used when the subject is in the first person, you know.
And, secondly, which way would you use?
"Would" is impossible to use here. And in fact, I can hardly imagine what the rule about "should" you are quoting might refer to. Google provides me with this:


Dictionary of English - should <i>or </i>would

To me that implies that in conditional sentences (and not in subjunctives as you quoted them) "would" used to be replaced with "should" in 1st person singular and plural. It refers to such phrases as "I should say so", which is possible (though "I would say so" is, too), whereas "he should say so" indeed sounds wrong. But it's not a general rule about "should", sentences such as "you should see a doctor" are perfectly OK and you couldn't use "would" here and retain the meaning.

Ah, and about the question which to use: I'd use the version with "should" most of the time, the other sounds awfully formal. Of course, if I wanted to sound awfully formal I'd use the subjunctive. Mostly in writing.