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Linguaholic

Shall Or Will ?


ghanashyam

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While I was in the school I was taught following rule as to  how to use " shall " and " will "

Shall denotes the suggestion of a definite intention.

Will  denotes the normal use.

Like I shall come to your office.  ( definite )

OR

I will come to your office  ( I may or may not come, I will try the most.)

How do you use SHALL and WILL in your country ?

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The way I was taught is that shall is only used for I or we (1st person), otherwise it is will.

"We shall visit our neighbours soon."

"I shall give a present."

"They will be surprised."

But, if a strong determination is implied, this is reversed.

"I will send you to your room."

"You shall clean it up."

"Your mom shall punish you."

"We won't allow this any longer."

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SHALL is also used this way, a command or order or a strong suggestion.

Fatther to Son:  You shall go to school even if the bus does not come.

or

Doctor To Patient:  You shall have to go to lab for  the blood test today itself.

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While I was in the school I was taught following rule as to  how to use " shall " and " will "

Shall denotes the suggestion of a definite intention.

Will  denotes the normal use.

Like I shall come to your office.  ( definite )

OR

I will come to your office  ( I may or may not come, I will try the most.)

How do you use SHALL and WILL in your country ?

In American English "shall" is rarely used in everyday speech.  It comes across as very formal, and even old fashioned if you were to use it in conversation.  You would say "I will go to the library tomorrow" not "I shall go to the library tomorrow."

"Shall" is occasionally heard to express strong intent, with either the first person singular or plural, i.e. the "I" or "we" pronoun but especially with the plural, "we."  As in: "We shall remain unwavering in our commitment."

Occasionally "shall" is used as an expression of politeness, as in "Shall we dance?"

But by and large you just don't hear "shall" in everyday language in American English.

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