Shall

[Tdol]

What's the truth about 'shall' nowadays?

 

[riverkid]

As one poster said, TDol frames great polls. They provide a background to some great discussions and though I'm certainly not trying to inhibit such things, there is a great book out that points us to the truth about how virtually every structure word/phrase is used in English.

It's entitled,

The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English by D. Biber et al.

and a link to Amazon,

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b...ooks&field-keywords=The+Longman+Grammar+Biber

 

[dzmitry]

:roll: I've pushed the wrong button. I'm sorry

 

[BobK]

Let me disabuse you of the belief that shall is used mainly in questions nowadays. Or in other words, I shall hereby.disabuse you of the belief that shall is used mainly in questions nowadays.

b

 

[MikeNewYork]

Let me disabuse you of the belief that shall is used mainly in questions nowadays. Or in other words, I shall hereby.disabuse you of the belief that shall is used mainly in questions nowadays.

b

Shall we dance?
Let's go, shall we?
Shall I whip us up some lunch? :-D

 

[Tdol]

No, you shall not!

 

[MikeNewYork]

No, you shall not!

Shalln't I? :shock:

 

[retro]

Isn't "should" more commonly used in AmE instead?

 

[Tdol]

It's used less than in BrE.

 

[Daizee]

Yeah, I'm a native speaker and never really use shall, it's often considered to be posh and used by the pompous. :-D

 

[unfixed]

Shalln't I? :shock:

Shalln't or shan't?

 

[Tdol]

Shan't

 

[.]

I should think any person using shall today to be putting on pretentions.
I am an 'other' in that I speak Australian and I have not heard 'shall' uttered since I was a child at a Roman Catholic School.

.,,

 

[Stromgol]

I think "Shall" might be used in the poetic way. I might be worng. I think about a bible quotation:"Ask and you shall recieve".

 

[Gёггч]

Compared with shall..i prefer to use will instead...;-)
Shall she go with us..?
Will she go with us...?
Both are ok..right?

 

[roshen]

This what i think, "shall" is used in the 18th centuray. Manily the Birtish. As the year passes our life style changes. The "shall" is used in the movie, when the actor is in the romanctic situation.

 

[jargon_dudette]

What's the truth about 'shall' nowadays?

The traditional rule, often stated in grammars and usage books, is that to express a simple future tense shall is used after I and we (I shall leave promptly at noon) and will in other cases, i.e., the second and third persons (Will you leave at noon?They will leave at noon). To express intention, command, or wish their roles are reversed: I will do this right or die trying.Passengers shall present two photo IDs prior to ticketing. It is unlikely that this rule has ever been regularly observed, however, and many examples in the printed works of the best writers contradict it. Though will and, occasionally, shall are used as auxiliary verbs referring to a future action or state, other ways of expressing this are often preferred as more natural, for example, am going to. When shall and will are used in conversation, they are normally contracted to 'll, so that the difference between the two words becomes irrelevant. In all parts of the English-speaking world other than England, shall has been more or less replaced by will. It survives mostly in usages such as Shall we go? and the contracted negative form shan't, but this is rarely if ever used in modern-day U.S. English. In U.S. English, shall is still sometimes used in official and quasi-legal contexts such as These precincts shall recount the votes as per the state election regulations (a command), but this sounds old-fashioned. Shall is also a part of well-established expressions in U.S. English such as We shall overcome.Microsoft® Encarta® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

[Wuisi]

Sorry, I didn't pay attention to 'mainly', that's why I went for 'agree-others'. Nowadays, as far as I know. it is used in suggestions and in legal documents. I think it is also used in technical instructions but I'm not sure about this bit.

 

[seba_870701]

Compared with shall..i prefer to use will instead...;-)
Shall she go with us..?
Will she go with us...?
Both are ok..right?

'shall' is used with the first person either singular or plural, i.e. with 'I' and 'we' only ;-)

 

[seba_870701]

What's the truth about 'shall' nowadays?

What's your opinion Tdol? ;-)
PS
When poll results are displayed at my screen, I see roughly half of the voters.. Shouldn't be all voters shown to the public? Or is it just something with my PC that it doesn't work properly..? :-|
Regards,
Seba