He is afraid to speak,lest he ____ be laughed at. (fill in the blanks with should or would,may or might,can or could or ought)
Answers
Given: He is afraid to speak,lest he ____ be laughed at.
To find: fill in the blanks with should or would,may or might,can or could or ought.
solution:
He is afraid to speak,lest he should be laughed at.
answer is should.
Explanation:
should is past form of shall. It is used:
to express duty or obligation.
to express obligation or advice
to express probability or likelihood
to express purpose and result
to indicate disapproval of something that was done in the past
After lest to express a negative purpose
He is afraid to speak, lest he should be laughed at.
With the word lest we always pair it with the conjunction "should".
Just after the lest it simply takes the first form of the verb.
The pair Lest......Should is used,
- to express the compulsory action to avoid the negative effect.
- to express the necessity of the situation.
So,
In the given statement we have the clue that lest is given un that, so from the given option "should" must be the correct answer.