[Vocabulary] Shall I?

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beachboy

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Would it sound strange (or maybe wrong) if a salesperson, instead of asking me "May I help you?", asked "Shall I help you?" In what context can I use "Shall I help you?"
 
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It would sound strange in the context you mention. If someone is doing something and you think they might need assistance, you could say 'Shall I help you?'.
 
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bhaisahab said:
It would sound strange in the context you mention. If someone is doing something and you think they might need assistance, you could say 'Shall I help you?'.
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That's the point. At a store, a salesperson offers help because they think I might need assistance. This is how I feel.
 
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It would never be natural in American English to say "Shall I help you?"
 
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It certainly wouldn't be natural for a shop assistant to say it in the UK either. It would be natural for someone in a casual situation, who sees someone else struggling with something, and who is offering to help. (That's not the same kind of help/assistance that's on offer in a shop.)

John (struggling to hang wallpaper): Aaarrrgh! This is driving me mad. It's impossible to do it on your own.
Paul (sighing and trying not to laugh): Oh. Are you having trouble with it. Shall I help you?
John: No. You just carry on sitting there, reading the paper and letting me do all the work.
Paul: Really?
John: Of course not! Get up and help me, you idiot!
 
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beachboy said:
Would it sound strange (or maybe wrong) if a salesperson, instead of asking me "May I help you?", asked "Shall I help you?" In what context can I use "Shall I help you?"
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Yes, it would. They both express deontic modality, but there's a difference.

"May I help you"? means that I'm asking for permission, rather formally, to help you. It would typically draw a response like "Yes, you may", or just "Yes". A less formal approach would be with "can": "Can I help you"?

But "Shall I help you"? is a direction question. It's direction-seeking in that I'm effectively asking you to tell me whether to help you or not. The typical response is an imperative like "Yes, please do". This is not what a salesperson means when they offer to help a customer.
 
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beachboy said:
That's the point. At a store, a salesperson offers help because they think I might need assistance. This is how I feel.
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It would only work for me if they were offering to do something outside their normal activity, like helping me with my bags.
 
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