When do you use 'ought to' for advice / moral obligation (similar to 'should', more formal)?

Example: "We ought to document this API before the next release."

← All modal verbs

Modal verb

ought to

ought to + base verb (the exception: this one DOES need 'to')

Uses

Advice / moral obligation (similar to 'should', more formal)

“We ought to document this API before the next release.”

Common mistakes

✕“We ought review this design before building it.”

✓“We ought to review this design before building it.”

✕“It oughts to be fixed.”

✓“It ought to be fixed.”

Choose the correct modal

Pick the modal that fits the meaning of each sentence.

We document this API before the next release.

You back up the database before running that migration.

Spot the correctly formed sentence

Only one option follows the rules for modal verbs. Pick it.

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Written by

Roxana Lafuente

Lingua-e's founder

Roxana Lafuente is a software engineer with 8+ years of experience. At the beginning of her career, even though she had already passed the First Certificate in English, she still froze every time she had to speak up in the daily standup. That was a gap nobody was fixing. After 2,000+ standups, she figured out what actually builds fluency: practice that looks like your real work. She built Lingua-e so other developers wouldn't have to take the long road to feel confident working in an international development environment.