whats the difference of "shall" & "will", "should" ???

[Unregistered]

dear teachers,

this word "shall" confuses me all the time, would you help me to know,

whats the difference of "shall" and "will/ should" ?
in what kind of cases to use "shall" is better or more suitable? in what cases not?


your help means a lot to me.. thank you...

[Soup]

Hi

Use will when you are 100% certain about something; e.g., I will (definitely) study tonight.

Use should when you want to express an obligation; e.g., I should (definitely) study tonight, but there's a good movie on TV, so maybe I won't study. I haven't decided yet.

Shall isn't all that popular in AmE, so I don't know how to advise here. What I can do, though, is tell you that I use it in polite situations when I am speaking to someone who is older than I am or who is above me in status; e.g., Shall I do this for you?; Shall we go?

[iverson23]

to Soup..

This is a great site I happened to find today!
Thank you for your prompt reply!

Actually I know how to use "will/ should" well, but Im just not familiar with the word "shall", I seldom use it at all.

As you said, it should be more appropriate to use in a situation that you want to show politeness to people. Now I seem to understand a bit.
Coz my department manager always like to use it (in emails) in all cases, it makes me feel very awkward to read at first, now I see he is trying to please someone.


PS: After reading some posts I noticed many learners here are from China -- Chinese's English is so to-be-improved..

[poorboy_9]

One of the ways it was explained to me (shall/will) goes as follows:

After checking all his available data, the weatherman said,"It will rain".
GOD says, It SHALL rain"!

There is a bit of pomposity using "shall" in AmE, unless it is used for emphasis.
B.