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# ought

«ought» in Mova's early modern english dictionary: **should; must** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### kind

archaic sense

### modern equivalent

should; must

### part of speech

verb (old noun sense: anything, from "aught")

### meaning for a pupil

Should, or was right to; the old noun sense (anything) is no longer used. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/O/ought/#m1)

### how it differs from today

The sentences use the modern verb sense (should), so the old meaning "anything" is not shown here.

### examples

- Let us work as we ought.” (The Blue Fairy Book) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/O/ought/#x1)
- "What ought we to do?" said Effie. (The Book of Dragons) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/O/ought/#x2)
- He ought to be a happy man. (Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/O/ought/#x3)

### tests

manual 3; corpora 366 (Torah 2, tales 364, Sefer Yetzirah 0); EWT 1; ratio 13.8 (Torah alone 1.6); Wiktionary no archaic label

### In the corpora

- [«Then it ought to be Number One,» says Alice — and the King turns pale and shuts his book.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/23-alice-alices-evidence-1/10/)
- [I ought to stick by Toad till this trip is ended.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/31-willows-ch2-part3-poop-poop/25/)
- [Badger «never said, “I told you so”» or that they ought to have done something else.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/37-willows-ch4-part1-mr-badger/24/)
- [Duties are things we ought to do for others, such as respecting their rights and helping.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/35-courage-responsibility-rights-and-duties/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ought» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/O/ought/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.