should, be supposed to

Question

So for many years it was a mystery as to why the sea should have so little salt in it, given the rate of runoff, and particularly if the world was supposed to be hundreds of millions of years old.

What do 'shoud' and 'be supposed to' mean respectively?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

These, I suggest:

should: 6. used for describing a fact or event that someone has a particular feeling or opinion about
It's hardly surprising that people should be suspicious of politicians' promises.
How sad that she should have no one to comfort her.
Claudia was shocked that anyone should believe such a scandalous story.
It's odd you should mention Ben – I was just thinking about him.

be supposed to: 1. used for describing a fact or event that someone has a particular feeling or opinion about
It's hardly surprising that people should be suspicious of politicians' promises.
How sad that she should have no one to comfort her.
Claudia was shocked that anyone should believe such a scandalous story.
It's odd you should mention Ben – I was just thinking about him.

Contraposition · Answer

I'm afriad you copied same examples in 'be supposed to' of 'should'.

Mister Micawber · Answer

Sorry—faulty C & P. Let me try again:

be supposed to: 1. to be expected to behave in a particular way, especially according to a rule, an agreement, or someone in authority
You're supposed to make a copy of the contract before you mail it.
Am I supposed to be at the meeting on Tuesday?
This isn't what we're supposed to be discussing.

CalifJim · Answer

contrapositionwhy the sea should have so little salt in it

A note on certain "Why should ...?" questions.*

Why should it be like this? shows the speaker's opinion that it doesn't necessarily have to be like this. It says, but not explicitly, that the speaker does not believe that its being like this is logically necessary. (Maybe no logical explanation can be found for why it is like it is, and not like something else.)

So Why should it be like this? is like saying Why is it like this when, logically, it doesn't need to be like this.

It was a mystery as to why the sea should have so little salt in it.
~
It was a mystery as to why the sea has so little salt in it when, logically, it doesn't need to be like this.

contrapositionthe world was supposed to be hundreds of millions of years old.

You can substitute 'considered' or 'believed' for 'supposed':

the world was [considered / believed] to be hundreds of millions of years old.

The active form of this impersonal passive construction would require a subject, which we would have to assume, thus:

[people / the experts] supposed (took it as true) that the world was hundreds of millions of years old.

CJ

*These are cases where the proposition to which 'should' is added is regarded as true, often unfortunately true, not cases where 'should' indicates advisability. Here are a few more cases were 'should' is used as I describe above:

Why should innocent people die?
Why should e-books cost so much?
Why should rich people have all the fun?
Why should athletes suffer from the mistakes of others?
Why should everyone else pay for other people's dumb career choices?

CJ

should, be supposed to

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