Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word from those given in the options.
Children _____ obey their teachers.
a. should
b. would
c. may
d. ought

Answer 1

Hint: The student should read the sentence carefully and see whether the sentence indicates duty, obligation, possibility or ability. Accordingly, the option which indicates the same should be selected.

Complete answer: In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of a modal verb. A modal verb is an auxiliary verb (such as `can' or `will') that is used to express modality. Modality is a classification of propositions on the basis of whether they claim necessity or possibility or impossibility.
Let us analyze the options given to us in this question -
Option (a.), 'should', refers to ‘(auxiliary) Be obliged to; have an obligation to; ought to; indicates that the subject of the sentence has some obligation to execute the sentence predicate’.
Therefore, option (a.) is correct as it indicates that the students, generally are obligated to obey the teachers.
Option (b.), ‘would', refers to ‘As a modal verb, the subjunctive of will’.
Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as it is not in the present tense. The given sentence states a general fact, thus the answer should be in the present tense.
Option (c.), ‘may', refers to ‘(modal auxiliary verb, defective) To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests’.
Therefore, option (c.) is incorrect as the given sentence does not indicate permission.
Option (d.), ‘ought', refers to ‘(auxiliary) Indicating duty or obligation’.
Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as ‘ought’ is generally used along with ‘to’.

Note: The principal modal auxiliary verbs in English are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will and would. They are sometimes called full modals as they have all of the characteristics of modal verbs in terms of meaning (expressing modality) and form (they have no inflexion, no infinitive form, no participle form, are negated by the addition of 'not' and form questions by inversion rather than with another auxiliary verb).