[Grammar] "I did what I should do" vs "I did what I should have done"

[MichaelLu2000]

Hi

I would like to know which one is correct: "I did what I should do" or "I did what I should have done"

To me the later sounds as if you actually didn't do it so it is a little illogical.

However many native speakers use it.

So, I would like to know why people prefer the later to the former in this kind of past tense sentence.

 

[tedmc]

The action is in the past, so "did what I should have done is correct".
"Did what I should do" is a contradiction of tenses.

 

[Phaedrus]

To me the later sounds as if you actually didn't do it so it is a little illogical.

However many native speakers use it.

Some native speakers would avoid the issue by going with one of these sentences instead:

I did what needed to be done.
I did what I was obligated to do.
I did what it was incumbent on me to do.

I personally find that the counterfactual implicature of which you speak is a bit weaker with "ought to have done":

I did what I ought to have done.

It's also weaker, or nonexistent, if "everything" replaces "what":

I did everything I should have done.

 

[MichaelLu2000]

Some native speakers would avoid the issue by going with one of these sentences instead:

I did what needed to be done.
I did what I was obligated to do.
I did what was incumbent on me to do.

Don't all of the sentence above equal to "I did what I should do at that time"

 

[Phaedrus]

Don't all of the sentence above equal to "I did what I should do at that time"

No. Those sentences refer to the past. In "I did what I should do at that time," the phrase "what I should do at that time" refers to the future, not the past.

 

[jutfrank]

"I did what I should do" or "I did what I should have done"

To me the later sounds as if you actually didn't do it so it is a little illogical.

The first two words I did make it very clear that you did do it.

 

[MichaelLu2000]

Maybe the context matters.

A: What did you do when you saw the thief?
B: I did what I should do. I shot him in the chest.

 

[jutfrank]

Maybe the context matters.

A: What did you do when you saw the thief?
B: I did what I should do. I shot him in the chest.

Yes, context certainly does matter.

Generally speaking, using should + bare infinitive gives a present/future meaning and should + past infinitive gives a past meaning.

That means that in your sentence above the idea is that shooting thieves is the right thing to do always. If you were to replace should do with should have done, the sense would change, i.e., to the effect that shooting that particular thief was the right thing to do on that particular past occasion.

 

[Phaedrus]

No. Those sentences refer to the past. In "I did what I should do at that time," the phrase "what I should do at that time" refers to the future, not the past.

It has occurred to me that "I did what I should do at that time" could also refer to a past successful performance of an action which the speaker is supposed to perform at a certain regularly recurring time. For example, I believe that in some churches someone has the duty to ring a bell at the end of the service. Assuming the bell boy had successfully performed his duty on a certain occasion, he could, if he were asked afterwards why he had rung the bell, truthfully respond, "I did what I should do at that time."

 

[jutfrank]

It has occurred to me that "I did what I should do at that time" could also refer to a past successful performance of an action which the speaker is supposed to perform at a certain regularly recurring time. For example, I believe that in some churches someone has the duty to ring a bell at the end of the service. Assuming the bell boy had successfully performed his duty on a certain occasion, he could, if he were asked afterwards why he had rung the bell, truthfully respond, "I did what I should do at that time."

The way I'd interpret that, although the time marker at that time appears to be a reference to particular past-time occasion, since the speaker is talking about a regular duty, there's still a sense of 'always'.

In other words: I did what I should [always] do at that time.The time marker at that time has here a general-time reference, meaning 'at that time of every service' rather than 'at that particular past time of that particular past-time day'.