Now we shall begin

keannu · Apr 7, 2016

This is the narration for a listening test. What does "shall" here mean? Is it intention or expectation of the future?
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The taxi driver said that he would get the bags out of the boot of his taxi, so the correct answer is A. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time...

JMurray · Apr 7, 2016

not a teacher

I think this is more of an instruction or (mild) command.
Definition #3 here: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/shall

Looking at this again, it feels just as much like intention.

PaulMatthews · Apr 7, 2016

keannu said:
This is the narration for a listening test. What does "shall" here mean? Is it intention or expectation of the future?
=================
The taxi driver said that he would get the bags out of the boot of his taxi, so the correct answer is A. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time...

I'd say the meaning of "shall" in your example is one of volition. The fact that it can be replaced without change of meaning by the ordinary volitional "will" would support that interpretation ("Now we will begin").

GoesStation · Apr 7, 2016

keannu said:
This is the narration for a listening test. What does "shall" here mean? Is it intention or expectation of the future?
=================
The taxi driver said that he would get the bags out of the boot of his taxi, so the correct answer is A. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time...

In AmE it means the same thing as now we will begin, except that an American would think "this person talks strangely."

Raymott · Apr 7, 2016

In Australia, 'shall' is almost obsolete. Most Australians would subconsciously read it as 'will' and get the precise meaning - if necessary - from the context.

Roman55 · Apr 7, 2016

PaulMatthews said:
The fact that it can be replaced without change of meaning by the ordinary volitional "will" would support that interpretation ("Now we will begin").

Except that it can only be replaced by 'will' without changing the meaning if you don't see any difference between the two. If you see a difference, then you wouldn't.

I know that many native speakers no longer differentiate between 'shall' and 'will', and that many of them never use 'shall' at all, but consider the interrogative. I see a huge difference between, 'Shall we begin now?' and 'Will we begin now?'

jutfrank · Apr 7, 2016

I agree with Roman55 above -- they are not identical in meaning. I quite like JMurray's way of putting it: shall suggests a kind of mild command.

PaulMatthews · Apr 7, 2016

Roman55 said:
Except that it can only be replaced by 'will' without changing the meaning if you don't see any difference between the two. If you see a difference, then you wouldn't.

I know that many native speakers no longer differentiate between 'shall' and 'will', and that many of them never use 'shall' at all, but consider the interrogative. I see a huge difference between, 'Shall we begin now?' and 'Will we begin now?'

The purpose of testing with "will" was to see if the meaning remained unchanged. It seemed to work okay, so it seemed reasonable to say that "shall" in the OP's example was volitional.

PaulMatthews · Apr 7, 2016

Piscean said:
There is no way of knowing for certain what the writer intended. My guess is that s/he was simply using the almost-dead old-style BrE future 'tense', which, prescriptivists insisted, required shall for the first person and will for the second and third persons. This was thought to convey no shade of meaning except futurity. As a result of my age and education, I still use this, though I don't inflict it on my learners. in the e

I rather thought that the word "now" in the OP's example pretty much indicated present time, i.e. commencing immediately after the utterance. Prescriptivists also insisted that volitional "will" be restricted to 1st person with "shall" for 2nd/3rd person.

Now we shall begin

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