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I'm curious about this matter and have no true explanation for it. As I pinpointed in the title, when does Should precede the subject? I mean the example below (copied):

Should your work habits not like...

Why did Should come before the subject "your work"? Why wasn't it arranged as "Your work should not habit like..."? By the way, the sentence was on the beginning of the line.

Themud
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    "Should your work not habits like..." makes no sense. Even if habit were a verb, it wouldn't end -s there. This question is the only instance Google finds of "Should your work not habits like". Please check that you have transcribed the example -- or find a different one, like "Should your work not excel like Tommy's..." – Andrew Leach Sep 01 '17 at 21:40
  • "Should your work not habits like" is not grammatical English. – Mark Beadles Sep 01 '17 at 22:07
  • Oops, I didn't write the sentence right. Sorry, edited. If you want the literal sentence I saw, then here you go: Should your work habits not be compatible with that concept

    But I think the example I gave and the original sentence are not different.

     – Themud Sep 01 '17 at 22:41

1 Answers1

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There are two possible answers:

1) It might be a question: "Should we tell him the truth?"

2) It might be a type of conditional protasis, in which the notion of "if" is implicit and the modal verb "should" and the subject have had their usual word order inverted: "Should he be there, try to avoid him." ( = "If he should be there, try to avoid him." = "If he is there, try to avoid him." )

See also: The use of "were- should- had” at the beginning of sentences instead of “if”

rjpond
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