I will or I do?

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To answer "Will you marry me?", should I use "Yes, I will" or "Yes, I do"? Which one is correct? or, both are right?

I always believe that we answer "Yes, I do", when the minister asks "Do you take *** to be your lawfully wedded husband / wife..." Am I correct?:-|

PS: is it "lawfully" or "legally" wedded husband /wife? or both are right?

THANKS !
 
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banderas

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To answer "Will you marry me?", should I use "Yes, I will" or "Yes, I do"? Which one is correct? or, both are right?I will is correct.

I always believe that we answer "Yes, I do", when the minister asks "Do you want to take *** to be your lawfully wedded husband / wife..." Am I correct?:-|Yes, you are;-)

PS: is it "lawfully" or "legally" wedded husband /wife? or both are right?

THANKS !
d
 

David L.

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I doubt very much whether a girl would reply "I will" - or at least not in the movies! It's usually "Yes...YES" and she throws her arms around him. "I will' is soooooooo formal.
The minister says 'lawfully'. They have been married in a manner which satisfies legal requirements.
From then on, in the eyes of the law, they are 'legally' married and this is acknowledged by a Marriage Certificate.
 

daznorthants

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The answer falls out of the question:

"Will you marry me".... "Yes I will"

"Do you want to get married?".... "Yes I do."

I would respectfully suggest that a proposal of marriage is a formal thing or at least should be. No guarantee that the response should be formal or in deed if the recipient of the question is always over joyed. The answer might be "over my dead body" or "get lost"

Although one might expect these days to hear "wanna get married", "yer alright" or "nah"

Oh what a lovely language - shame to spoil it.
 

riverkid

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To answer "Will you marry me?", should I use "Yes, I will" or "Yes, I do"? Which one is correct? or, both are right?

What any given individual will say in a situation like this is hard to predict. In speech we certainly don't always follow with grammatical rigidity.

A: Will you marry me?

B: I do.

B: I did.

We use language to effect different meanings. will, do even did say certain things to an ENL's mind.

"I do" gives the feeling that it's a forgone conclusion.

"I did", could mean "since we first laid eyes on each other, I've been yours and no marriage ceremony could possibly make any difference".

That's what Shakespeare is all about, using language in ways that are not the normal everyday. We're no different than Shakespeare in that English is as much ours to use as it was his.
 

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what does "a forgone conclusion" mean?
 

banderas

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what does "a forgone conclusion" mean?

A decision made before the evidence for it is known. An inevitable conclusion.

From Shakespeare's Othello, 1604:
OTHELLO:
"But this denoted a foregone conclusion:
'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream."
 
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