"should have been" or "should be"?

Question

Yet trades involving the transfer of management rights had long been considered transactions that should have been undertaken, in principle, through a takeover bid.

Hi. Can we replace "should have been" with "should be"?

Pao3 · Accepted Answer

I would say you can't. Because this sentence is telling us about past.
'Should have been' - it was (supposed to be)
'Should be' - it is or will be (supposed to be)

of topic, I know 'should' is in no way equalled to 'be supposed to', I just couldn't find other similar word(with clear meaning)

Marius Hancu · Answer

Teleostomi
Yet trades involving the transfer of management rights had long been considered transactions that should have been undertaken, in principle, through a takeover bid.
Hi. Can we replace "should have been" with "should be"?

Only if changing the tenses:

have been considered - should be undertaken

Philip · Answer

Teleostomi
Yet trades involving the transfer of management rights had long been considered transactions that should have been undertaken, in principle, through a takeover bid.
Hi. Can we replace "should have been" with "should be"?

I agree with the others. It's in the past, so keep it the way it is.

Bokeh · Answer

TeleostomiYet trades involving the transfer of management rights had long been considered transactions that should have been undertaken, in principle, through a takeover bid.

In your sentence "had" and "should have been" are complementary so: yes, you can change to "should be" if you choose but you will also need to change "had" to "have". (obviously this changes the context though.)

Yet trades involving the transfer of management rights have long been considered transactions that should be undertaken, in principle, through a takeover bid.

"should have been" or "should be"?

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