"should have done"

[Orin Hargraves]

>  Here's an example, in the present tense,  from an influential source
usually regarded as "dignified prose" :
>
>
>  1643 J. Milton  _Areopagetica_  para. 26 :
>
>  We have not yet found them all, Lords and Commons, nor ever shall do, till
her Master’s second coming.
>
>  This construction, to me, remains quite as odd as "positive _anymore_."
>
My impression is that Brits always prefer some form of "do" as a placeholder
in this sort of anaphoric construction, just as Americans prefer to leave it
out -- I also address the matter in my book on Am/Brit differences under
"Variable Ellipsis of Predicates."

Perhaps there is a slight parallel (of prolixity) in Brits' habit of using
possessive adj + pronoun in constructions where Americans use only a
possessive pronoun, i.e., Brit "Your one is bigger than my one" as opposed to
Yank "yours is bigger than mine."

Orin Hargraves