Editing Shall and will (section)

==Uses of ''shall'' and ''will'' in expressing futurity==

Both ''shall'' and ''will'' can be used to mark a circumstance as occurring in future time; this construction is often referred to as the [[future tense]] of English. For example: 
* Will they be here tomorrow?
* I shall grow old some day.
* Shall we go for dinner?
When ''will'' or ''shall'' directly governs the infinitive of the main verb, as in the above examples, the construction is called the [[simple future]]. Future marking can also be combined with [[grammatical aspect|aspectual]] marking to produce constructions known as [[future progressive]] ("He will be working"), [[future perfect]] ("He will have worked") and [[future perfect progressive]] ("He will have been working"). English also has other ways of referring to future circumstances, including the ''going to'' construction, and in many cases the ordinary [[present tense]] – details of these can be found in the article on the [[going-to future|''going-to'' future]].

The verbs ''will'' and ''shall'', when used as future markers, are largely interchangeable with regard to literal meaning. Generally, however, ''will'' is far more common than ''shall''. Use of ''shall'' is normally a marked usage, typically indicating formality or seriousness and (if not used with a first person subject) expressing a [[#Colored uses|colored meaning]] as described below. In most dialects of English, the use of ''shall'' as a future marker is viewed as [[archaism|archaic]].<ref>Crystal, David, ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language'', pages 194 and 224, Cambridge Press Syndicate, New York, NY 1995 {{ISBN|0-521-40179-8}}</ref>

''Will'' is ambiguous in first-person statements, and ''shall'' is ambiguous in second- and third-person statements. A rule of [[Linguistic prescription|prescriptive grammar]] was created to remove these [[Ambiguity|ambiguities]], but it requires that the hearer or reader understand the rule followed by the speaker or writer, which is usually not the case. According to this rule, when expressing futurity and nothing more, the auxiliary ''shall'' is to be used with [[grammatical person|first person]] subjects (''I'' and ''we''), and ''will'' is to be used in other instances. Using ''will'' with the first person or ''shall'' with the second or third person is asserted to indicate some additional meaning in addition to plain futurity. In practice, however, this rule is not observed – the two auxiliaries are used interchangeably, with ''will'' being far more common than ''shall''. This is discussed in more detail in the following sections.

===Prescriptivist distinction===
{{anchor|The prescriptivist distinction}} <!-- linked at least from Comparison of American and British English#Verbal auxiliaries]]-->

According to ''[[Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage]]'',<ref>''Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'', Merriam-Webster, 1989, {{ISBN|0-87779-132-5}}</ref> the distinction between ''shall'' and ''will'' as future markers arose from the practice of [[Latin]] teaching in English schools in the 14th century. It was customary to use ''will'' to translate the Latin ''velle'' (meaning to wish, want or intend); this left ''shall'' (which had no other equivalent in Latin) to translate the Latin [[future tense]]. This practice kept ''shall'' alive in the role of future marker; it is used consistently as such in the Middle English [[Wycliffe's Bible]]. However, in the common language it was ''will'' that was becoming predominant in that role. [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]] normally uses ''will'' to indicate the future, regardless of [[grammatical person]].

An influential proponent of the prescriptive rule that ''shall'' is to be used as the usual future marker in the first person was [[John Wallis]]. In ''Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae'' (1653) he wrote: "The rule is [...] to express a future event without emotional overtones, one should say I shall, we shall, but you/he/she/they will; conversely, for emphasis, willfulness, or insistence, one should say I/we will, but you/he/she/they shall".

[[Henry Watson Fowler]] wrote in his book ''The King's English'' (1906), regarding the rules for using ''shall'' vs. ''will'', the comment "the idiomatic use, while it comes by nature to southern Englishmen ... is so complicated that those who are not to the manner born can hardly acquire it". The ''Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage'', [[Oxford University Press|OUP]], 2002, says of the rule for the use of ''shall'' and ''will'': "it is unlikely that this rule has ever had any consistent basis of authority in actual usage, and many examples of [British] English in print disregard it".

Nonetheless, even among speakers (the majority) who do not follow the rule about using ''shall'' as the unmarked form in the first person, there is still a tendency to use ''shall'' and ''will'' to express different shades of meaning (reflecting aspects of their original [[Old English language|Old English]] senses). Thus ''shall'' is used with the meaning of obligation, and ''will'' with the meaning of desire or intention.

An illustration of the supposed contrast between ''shall'' and ''will'' (when the prescriptive rule is adhered to) appeared in the 19th century,<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Virginia University Magazine | year=1871 | page=367 | title=Reade and Collins | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9JKAAAAYAAJ&q=%E2%80%9CI+will+drown,+no+one+shall+save+me!%E2%80%9D)&pg=PA367 }}</ref> and has been repeated in the 20th century<ref>{{cite book | title=How to write and speak effective English: a modern guide to good form | publisher=[[World Syndicate Publishing|The World Syndicate Publishing Company]] | year=1938 | last=Allen  | first=Edward Frank | url=https://archive.org/details/howtowritespeakealle00alle| url-access=registration | quote="I will drown, no one shall save me!"). }}</ref> and in the 21st:<ref>{{cite book | first=Ian | last=Graham | title=Requirements modelling and specification for service oriented architecture | year=2008 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKscpMcyZHIC&q=%E2%80%9CI+will+drown%2C+no+one+shall+save+me%21%E2%80%9D%29&pg=PA72 | page=/79| publisher=Wiley | isbn=9780470712320 }}</ref>
* I shall drown; no one will save me! (expresses the expectation of drowning, simple expression of future occurrence)
* I will drown; no one shall save me! (expresses suicidal intent: first-person ''will'' for desire, third-person ''shall'' for command)
An example of this distinction in writing occurs in [[Henry James]]'s 1893 short story ''[[The Middle Years]]'':
:"Don't you know?—I want to what they call 'live.'"
:The young man, for good-by, had taken his hand, which closed with a certain force. They looked at each other hard a moment. "You ''will'' live," said Dr. Hugh.
:"Don't be superficial. It's too serious!"
:"You ''shall'' live!" Dencombe's visitor declared, turning pale.
:"Ah, that's better!" And as he retired the invalid, with a troubled laugh, sank gratefully back.<ref name="James 1893">{{cite book | author = Henry James | title = The Middle Years | url = https://archive.org/details/themiddleyears32649gut <!-- unsupported parameter |book-title = Terminations --> | author-link = Henry James }}</ref>

A more popular illustration of the use of "shall" with the second person to express determination occurs in the oft-quoted words the [[fairy godmother]] traditionally says to [[Cinderella]] in British versions of the well-known fairy tale: "You ''shall'' go to the ball, Cinderella!"

Another popular illustration is in the dramatic scene from ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' when [[Gandalf]] checks the [[Balrog]]'s advance with magisterial censure, "You shall not pass!"

The use of ''shall'' as the usual future marker{{dubious|date=February 2021}} in the first person nevertheless persists in some more formal or elevated [[register (sociolinguistics)|register]]s of English. An example is provided by the famous [[We shall fight on the beaches|speech of Winston Churchill]]: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.'"

===Colored uses===

[[Image:Cheer up.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Example of ''shall'' in the lead editorial of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' after the [[Great Chicago Fire|Chicago Fire]], using "shall" to connote formality and seriousness.]]
Whether or not the above-mentioned prescriptive rule (''shall'' for the unmarked future in the first person) is adhered to, there are certain meanings in which either ''will'' or ''shall'' tends to be used rather than the other. Some of these have already been mentioned (see the [[#Specific uses of shall or will|Specific uses]] section). However, there are also cases in which the meaning being expressed combines plain futurity with some additional implication; these can be referred to as "colored" uses of the future markers.

Thus ''shall'' may be used (particularly in the second and third [[grammatical person|persons]]) to imply a command, promise or threat made by the speaker (i.e., that the future event denoted represents the [[Will (philosophy)|will]] of the speaker rather than that of the [[subject (grammar)|subject]]). For example:
*You shall regret it before long. (speaker's threat)
*You shall not pass! (speaker's command)
*You ''shall'' go to the ball. (speaker's promise) <!--italics added for emphasis, because the usage is typically because the 'promise' is contrary to expectations-->

In the above sentences, ''shall'' might be replaced by ''will'' without change of intended meaning, although the form with ''will'' could also be interpreted as a plain statement about the expected future. The use of ''shall'' is often associated with formality and/or seriousness, in addition to the coloring of the meaning. For some specific cases of its formal use, see the sections below on {{slink||Legal use}} and {{slink||Technical specifications}}.

(Another, generally archaic, use of ''shall'' is in certain [[dependent clause]]s with future reference, as in "The prize is to be given to whoever shall have done the best."<!-- Please do not change this to "whomever" - the sentence is correct as it is. This has been discussed on the talk page. --> More normal here in modern English is the simple present tense: "whoever does the best"; see {{slink|Uses of English verb forms|Dependent clauses}}.)

On the other hand, ''will'' can be used (in the first person) to emphasize the willingness, desire or intention of the speaker:
*I will lend you £10,000 at 5% (the speaker is willing to make the loan, but it will not necessarily be made)
*I will have my way.
Most speakers have ''will'' as the future marker in any case, but when the meaning is as above, even those who follow or are influenced by the prescriptive rule would tend to use ''will'' (rather than the ''shall'' that they would use with a first person subject for the uncolored future).

The division of uses of ''will'' and ''shall'' is somewhat different in questions than in statements; see the following section for details.