For by This Shall Men Know That You Are

Word of modal verbs

Shall and will are 2 of the English modal verbs. They have various uses, including the expression of propositions about the future, in what is usually referred to every bit the future tense of English.

Historically, prescriptive grammar stated that, when expressing pure hereafter (without any additional meaning such as want or command), shall was to be used when the subject was in the first person, and volition in other cases (eastward.chiliad., "On Sunday, nosotros shall get to church, and the preacher will read the Bible.") This rule is no longer unremarkably adhered to by any group of English language speakers, and will has essentially replaced shall in nearly all contexts.

Shall is, still, still widely used in bureaucratic documents, peculiarly documents written past lawyers. Attributable to heavy misuse, its pregnant tin exist ambiguous and the United States government'due south Manifestly Language grouping advises writers not to utilize the word at all.^[1] Other legal drafting experts, including Plain Language advocates, argue that while shall can exist ambiguous in statutes (which most of the cited litigation on the give-and-take'southward estimation involves), court rules, and consumer contracts, that reasoning does not apply to the language of business contracts.^[2] These experts recommend using shall simply only to impose an obligation on a contractual political party that is the subject of the sentence, i.e., to convey the meaning "hereby has a duty to."^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7]

Etymology [edit]

The verb shall derives from Former English language sceal. Its cognates in other Germanic languages include Sometime Norse skal, German language soll, and Dutch zal; these all represent *skol-, the o-class of Indo-European *skel-. All of these verbs office as auxiliaries, representing either simple future, or necessity or obligation.

The verb volition derives from Old English language willan, meaning to desire or wish. Cognates include Old Norse vilja, German wollen (ich/er/sie will, meaning I/he/she desire/s to), Dutch willen, Gothic wiljan. It besides has relatives in non-Germanic languages, such as Latin velle ("wish for") and voluptas ("pleasure"), and Polish woleć ("prefer"). All of these forms derive from the eastward-form or o-grade of Indo-European *wel-, meaning to wish for or desire. Within English, the modal verb will is also related to the substantive volition and the regular lexical verb volition (as in "She willed him on").

Early Germanic did not inherit any Proto-Indo-European forms to express the future tense, and so the Germanic languages take innovated by using auxiliary verbs to limited the futurity (this is evidenced in Gothic and in the earliest recorded Germanic expressions). In English, shall and will are the auxiliaries that came to be used for this purpose. (Another ane used equally such in Former English was mun, which is related to Scots maun, Modernistic English must and Dutch moet)

Derived forms and pronunciation [edit]

Both shall and will come from verbs that had the preterite-nowadays conjugation in Old English language (and more often than not in Germanic), pregnant that they were conjugated using the strong preterite class (i.e. the usual past tense class) equally the nowadays tense. Because of this, like the other modal verbs, they do not take the usual -s in Mod English's third-person atypical nowadays; we say she shall and he will – not *she shalls, and not *he wills (except in the sense of "to volition" beingness a synonym of "to desire" or "to write into a will"). Archaically, there were however the variants shalt and wilt, which were used with 1000.

Both verbs also have their own preterite (past) forms, namely should and would, which derive from the bodily preterites of the Old English language verbs (made using the dental suffix that forms the preterites of weak verbs). These forms take developed a range of meanings, frequently independent of those of shall and volition (as described in the section on should and would below). Aside from this, though, shall and will (like the other modals) are defective verbs – they do not have other grammatical forms such as infinitives, imperatives or participles. (For instance, I desire to will eat something or He'southward shalling go to sleep practice non exist.)

Both shall and volition may be contracted to -'ll, most commonly in affirmative statements where they follow a bailiwick pronoun. Their negations, shall not and will non, likewise take contracted forms: shan't and won't (although shan't is rarely used in North America, and is becoming rarer elsewhere too). See English language auxiliaries and contractions.

The pronunciation of volition is , and that of won't is . Nonetheless shall has distinct weak and strong pronunciations: when unstressed, and when stressed. Shan't is pronounced in England, New Zealand, South Africa etc.; in North America (if used) it is pronounced , and both forms are acceptable in Australia (due to the unique course of the trap–bath dissever).

Specific uses of shall or will [edit]

The modal verbs shall and will have been used in the by, and continue to exist used, in a variety of meanings.^[8] Although when used purely as future markers they are largely interchangeable (as will be discussed in the following sections), each of the two verbs as well has certain specific uses in which information technology cannot be replaced by the other without modify of meaning.

The virtually common specific use of shall in everyday English language is in questions that serve as offers or suggestions: "Shall I ...?" or "Shall we ...?" These are discussed under § Questions below.

In statements, shall has the specific use of expressing an society or instruction, normally in elevated or formal register. This use can alloy with the usage of shall to express future, and is therefore discussed in detail below under § Colored uses.

Will (but not shall) is used to express habitual activeness, often (simply not exclusively) activeness that the speaker finds annoying:

He volition seize with teeth his nails, whatever I say.
He will oft stand up on his head.

Similarly, will is used to express something that can be expected to happen in a general example, or something that is highly likely at the present time:

A coat will last two years when properly cared for.
That will be Mo at the door.

The other main specific implication of will is to express willingness, desire or intention. This blends with its usage in expressing time to come, and is discussed under § Colored uses. For its use in questions about the future, encounter § Questions.

Uses of shall and volition in expressing futurity [edit]

Both shall and will can be used to mark a circumstance as occurring in future fourth dimension; this construction is often referred to as the time to come tense of English. For case:

Volition they be here tomorrow?
I shall grow quondam some day.
Shall we go for dinner?

When will or shall direct governs the infinitive of the main verb, every bit in the above examples, the construction is called the simple futurity. Future mark tin can as well be combined with aspectual marker to produce constructions known as hereafter progressive ("He will be working"), future perfect ("He volition have worked") and time to come perfect progressive ("He volition have been working"). English likewise has other ways of referring to future circumstances, including the going to construction, and in many cases the ordinary present tense – details of these can exist found in the article on the going-to future.

The verbs will and shall, when used as future markers, are largely interchangeable with regard to literal significant. More often than not, however, will is far more mutual than shall. Use of shall is normally a marked usage, typically indicating formality and/or seriousness and (if not used with a first person bailiwick) expressing a colored meaning as described below. In about dialects of English, the apply of shall as a future marker is viewed as archaic.^[ix]

Will is ambiguous in kickoff-person statements, and shall is ambiguous in 2d- and third-person statements. A rule of prescriptive grammar was created to remove these ambiguities, but it requires that the hearer or reader understand the rule followed past the speaker or writer, which is usually not the case. Co-ordinate to this rule, when expressing futurity and nothing more than, the auxiliary shall is to be used with first person subjects (I and nosotros), and will is to be used in other instances. Using will with the first person or shall with the second or third person is asserted to indicate some additional meaning in addition to plain future. In exercise, however, this rule is not observed – the ii auxiliaries are used interchangeably, with will being far more common than shall. This is discussed in more detail in the post-obit sections.

Prescriptivist distinction [edit]

According to Merriam Webster's Lexicon of English Usage,^[ten] the distinction between shall and will as hereafter markers arose from the do of Latin teaching in English schools in the 14th century. It was customary to use volition to translate the Latin velle (meaning to wish, desire or intend); this left shall (which had no other equivalent in Latin) to translate the Latin future tense. This practise kept shall live in the role of future marker; it is used consistently as such in the Middle English Wycliffe's Bible. However, in the mutual linguistic communication it was will that was becoming predominant in that role. Chaucer normally uses will to indicate the future, regardless of grammatical person.

An influential proponent of the prescriptive rule that shall is to be used every bit the usual futurity marking in the showtime person was John Wallis. In Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae (1653) he wrote: "The rule is [...] to express a future effect without emotional overtones, one should say I shall, we shall, but you lot/he/she/they will; conversely, for emphasis, willfulness, or insistence, i should say I/we will, but yous/he/she/they shall".

Henry Watson Fowler wrote in his volume The King's English language, regarding the rules for using shall vs. will, the comment "the idiomatic use, while it comes by nature to southern Englishmen ... is so complicated that those who are not to the manner born can hardly acquire it". The Pocket Fowler's Modern English language Usage, OUP, 2002, says of the rule for the utilize of shall and volition: "it is unlikely that this rule has always had whatever consequent basis of authority in bodily usage, and many examples of [British] English in print condone information technology".

Even so, fifty-fifty among speakers (the majority) who practise not follow the dominion about using shall as the unmarked form in the beginning person, at that place is however a tendency to use shall and will to express dissimilar shades of significant (reflecting aspects of their original Old English senses). Thus shall is used with the significant of obligation, and will with the significant of desire or intention.

An illustration of the supposed contrast between shall and volition (when the prescriptive rule is adhered to) appeared in the 19th century,^[xi] and has been repeated in the 20th century^[12] and in the 21st:^[13]

I shall drown; no i will relieve me! (expresses the expectation of drowning, simple expression of future occurrence)
I volition drown; no one shall save me! (expresses suicidal intent: first-person will for want, third-person shall for "command")

An example of this distinction in writing occurs in Henry James's 1893 brusk story The Middle Years:

"Don't you know?—I want to what they telephone call 'live.'"

The young man, for good-by, had taken his hand, which closed with a certain strength. They looked at each other hard a moment. "You will alive," said Dr. Hugh.

"Don't be superficial. It's too serious!"

"You shall live!" Dencombe'southward visitor declared, turning pale.

"Ah, that'due south ameliorate!" And as he retired the invalid, with a troubled laugh, sank gratefully back.^[14]

A more popular illustration of the use of "shall" with the second person to express conclusion occurs in the oft-quoted words the fairy godmother traditionally says to Cinderella in British versions of the well-known fairy tale: "Yous shall go to the brawl, Cinderella!"

Another popular illustration is in the dramatic scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Band when Gandalf checks the Balrog's advance with magisterial censure, "You shall not pass!"

The use of shall as the usual futurity marker^{[ dubious – discuss ]} in the first person nevertheless persists in some more than formal or elevated registers of English. An example is provided past the famous voice communication of Winston Churchill: "We shall fight on the beaches, nosotros shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; nosotros shall never surrender.'"

Colored uses [edit]

Instance of shall in the atomic number 82 editorial of the Chicago Tribune after the Chicago Fire, using "shall" to connote formality and seriousness.

Whether or not the to a higher place-mentioned prescriptive rule (shall for the unmarked time to come in the get-go person) is adhered to, there are certain meanings in which either will or shall tends to be used rather than the other. Some of these have already been mentioned (see the Specific uses section). Yet, there are also cases in which the meaning being expressed combines plainly future with some additional implication; these tin exist referred to as "colored" uses of the future markers.

Thus shall may be used (particularly in the second and 3rd persons) to imply a control, promise or threat made by the speaker (i.e. that the future upshot denoted represents the will of the speaker rather than that of the field of study). For example:

Y'all shall regret it before long. (speaker'due south threat)
Y'all shall non pass! (speaker's command)
You lot shall go to the ball. (speaker's promise)

In the in a higher place sentences, shall might be replaced by volition without change of intended meaning, although the form with will could also exist interpreted equally a plain statement about the expected future. The utilize of shall is ofttimes associated with formality and/or seriousness, in addition to the coloring of the meaning. For some specific cases of its formal use, meet the sections below on § Legal apply and § Technical specifications.

(Another, generally primitive, utilize of shall is in certain dependent clauses with future reference, as in "The prize is to be given to whoever shall have done the best." More normal here in modernistic English is the simple nowadays tense: "whoever does the best"; encounter Uses of English verb forms § Dependent clauses.)

On the other hand, volition tin can exist used (in the first person) to emphasize the willingness, desire or intention of the speaker:

I will lend you £10,000 at 5% (the speaker is willing to make the loan, but it will not necessarily exist made)
I will have my way.

About speakers have will as the futurity marker in whatsoever instance, but when the significant is as above, even those who follow or are influenced by the prescriptive dominion would tend to use will (rather than the shall that they would employ with a commencement person subject field for the uncolored future).

The division of uses of will and shall is somewhat dissimilar in questions than in statements; see the post-obit section for details.

Questions [edit]

In questions, the traditional prescriptive usage is that the auxiliary used should be the i expected in the answer. Hence in enquiring factually about the hereafter, ane could inquire: "Shall yous accompany me?" (to accord with the expected answer "I shall", since the rule prescribes shall as the uncolored hereafter marker in the kickoff person). To utilise will instead would turn the question into a asking. In practice, withal, shall is almost never used in questions of this type. To mark a factual question as distinct from a request, the going-to hereafter (or but the present tense) tin can be used: "Are you going to accompany me?" (or "Are you accompanying me?").

The chief utilise of shall in questions is with a start person subject field (I or we), to brand offers and suggestions, or request suggestions or instructions:

Shall I open a window?
Shall we dance?
Where shall we go today?
What shall I do next?

This is mutual in the Britain and other parts of the English-speaking world; it is too found in the United States, only there should is oft a less marked alternative. Unremarkably the apply of will in such questions would change the meaning to a simple asking for information: "Shall I play goalkeeper?" is an offer or suggestion, while "Will I play goalkeeper?" is just a question most the expected future situation.

The higher up meaning of shall is generally confined to direct questions with a commencement person subject. In the instance of a reported question (fifty-fifty if not reported in the past tense), shall is probable to exist replaced by should or another modal verb such as might: "She is asking if she should open up a window"; "He asked if they might trip the light fantastic."

The auxiliary will can therefore exist used in questions either merely to ask nigh what is expected to occur in the hereafter, or (especially with the second person subject you lot) to brand a asking:

Where will tomorrow's match be played? (factual inquiry)
Volition the new director do a good job? (enquiry for opinion)
Will you marry me? (asking)

Legal and technical use [edit]

US legal system [edit]

Bryan Garner and Justice Scalia in Reading Constabulary: The Interpretation of Legal Texts describe that some legal drafting has sloppy use of the give-and-take "shall".^[15] ^: 1808 Nevertheless, Garner and Scalia conclude that when the word "shall" can reasonably be understood as mandatory, it ought to exist taken that style.^[15] ^: 1849 In 2007 the U.Southward. Supreme Court said ("The discussion `shall' generally indicates a command that admits of no discretion on the part of the person instructed to carry out the directive"); Black's Law Dictionary 1375 (6th ed. 1990) ("As used in statutes ... this word is generally imperative or mandatory").^[16]

Legislative acts and contracts sometimes employ "shall" and "shall not" to limited mandatory activeness and prohibition. All the same, information technology is sometimes used to mean "may" or "can". The nearly famous example of both of these uses of the word "shall" is the United States Constitution. Claims that "shall" is used to announce a fact, or is not used with the higher up different meanings, have acquired discussions and have significant consequences for interpreting the text'due south intended meaning.^[17] Lawsuits over the give-and-take's meaning are likewise mutual.^[1]

Technical contexts [edit]

In many requirement specifications, specially involving software, the words shall and will have special meanings. Most requirement specifications use the word shall to denote something that is required, while reserving the will for simple statement about the futurity (especially since "going to" is typically seen equally too breezy for legal contexts). However, some documents deviate from this convention and use the words shall, volition, and should to denote the strength of the requirement. Some requirement specifications will ascertain the terms at the beginning of the document.

Shall and will are distinguished past NASA^[eighteen] and Wikiversity^[19] as follows:

Shall is commonly used to land a device or organisation's requirements. For instance: "The selected generator shall provide a minimum of 80 Kilowatts."
Will is by and large used to country a device or organization's purpose. For example, "The new generator volition be used to power the operations tent."

On standards published by International Organization for Standardization (ISO), IEC (International Electrotechnical Committee), ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials), IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), requirements with "shall" are the mandatory requirements, meaning, "must", or "have to".^[20] The IETF (Internet Engineering Chore Forcefulness) defines shall and must every bit synonymous terms denoting absolute requirements, and should as cogent a somewhat flexible requirement, in RFC documents.^[21]

On specifications and standards published by the United States Department of Defense (DoD), requirements with "shall" are the mandatory requirements. ("Must" shall not exist used to express mandatory provisions. Utilise the term "shall.") "Will" declares intent or uncomplicated future, and "should" and "may" express nonmandatory provisions.^[22] ^[23] ^[24]

Outside DoD, other parts of the U.South. government propose confronting using the word shall for three reasons: information technology lacks a single clear pregnant, information technology causes litigation, and information technology is nearly absent from ordinary spoken communication. The legal reference Words and Phrases dedicates 76 pages to summarizing hundreds of lawsuits that centered around the significant of the word shall. When referencing a legal or technical requirement, Words and Phrases instead favors must while reserving should for recommendations.^[1]

Should and would [edit]

As noted above, should and would originated as the preterite (by tense) forms of shall and will. In some of their uses they tin still be identified as past (or conditional) forms of those verbs, but they have also developed some specific meanings of their ain.

Independent uses [edit]

The principal apply of should in modern English language is as a synonym of ought to, expressing quasi-obligation, appropriateness, or expectation (it cannot be replaced by would in these meanings). Examples:

You should not say such things. (it is wrong to do so)
He should move his pawn. (it is appropriate to do and then)
Why should you suspect me? (for what reason is information technology proper to suspect me?)
You should have enough time to finish the work. (a prediction)
I should exist able to come. (a prediction, implies some uncertainty)
There should be some cheese in the kitchen. (expectation)

Other specific uses of should involve the expression of irrealis mood:

in status clauses (protasis), eastward.g. "If it should rain" or "Should it rain"; encounter English provisional sentences
equally an culling to the subjunctive, e.g. "Information technology is of import that he (should) leave"; run into English language subjunctive

The main use of would is in conditional clauses (described in detail in the commodity on English conditional sentences):

I would not be here if you hadn't summoned me.

In this use, would is sometimes (though rarely) replaced by should when the subject is in the first person (by virtue of the aforementioned prescriptive rule that demands shall rather than will every bit the normal hereafter mark for that person). This should is establish in stock phrases such as "I should call back" and "I should expect". However its use in more full general cases is sometime-fashioned or highly formal, and tin can give ascent to ambiguity with the more mutual use of should to hateful ought to. This is illustrated by the following sentences:

You would apologize if you lot saw him. (pure conditional, stating what would happen)
You should apologize if y'all meet him. (states what would be proper)
I would apologize if I saw him. (pure provisional)
I should repent if I saw him. (possibly a formal variant of the above, simply may be understood to exist stating what is proper)

In primitive usage would has been used to signal present time desire. "Would that I were dead" means "I wish I were dead". "I would fain" means "I would gladly".

More details of the usage of should, would and other related auxiliaries can exist found in the article on English modal verbs.

As past of shall and will [edit]

When would and should function every bit by tenses of volition and shall, their usage tends to correspond to that of the latter verbs (would is used analogously to will, and should to shall).

Thus would and should can be used with "future-in-the-by" meaning, to express what was expected to happen, or what in fact did happen, after some by fourth dimension of reference. The use of should here (like that of shall as a manifestly future marker) is much less mutual and is generally confined to the get-go person. Examples:

He left Bathroom in 1890, and would never return. (in fact he never returned after that)
Information technology seemed that information technology would rain. (rain was expected)
Petty did I know that I would (rarer: should) see her once more the very next 24-hour interval.

Would can too be used equally the by equivalent of will in its other specific uses, such as in expressing habitual actions (see English markers of habitual aspect#Would):

Last summertime we would get fishing a lot. (i.e. we used to go fishing a lot)

In particular, would and should are used as the past equivalents of volition and shall in indirect speech communication reported in the past tense:

The ladder will fall. → He said that the ladder would autumn.
Yous shall obey me! → He said that I should obey him.
I shall go swimming this afternoon. → I said that I should go swimming in the afternoon.

As with the conditional utilize referred to above, the use of should in such instances can lead to ambiguity; in the last instance it is not clear whether the original statement was shall (expressing plain future) or should (meaning "ought to"). Similarly "The archbishop said that we should all sin from time to time" is intended to written report the pronouncement that "We shall all sin from time to fourth dimension" (where shall denotes uncomplicated hereafter), but instead gives the highly misleading impression that the original word was should (significant "ought to").

See besides [edit]

English verbs
Grammatical person
Verbs in English Grammar (wikibook)

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c "Shall and must". plainlanguage,gov . Retrieved August 4, 2014.
^ ^a ^b Kenneth Adams, "Making Sense of 'Shall'", New York Law Journal, Oct 18, 2007.
^ Chadwick C. Busk, "Using Shall or Will to Create Obligations in Business Contracts", Michigan Bar Journal, pp. 50-52, October 2017.
^ "Basic Concepts in Drafting Contracts", presented by Vincent R. Martorana to the New York Country Bar Association, December 10, 2014 (via Reed Smith University).
^ http://apps.americanbar.org/buslaw/newsletter/0052/materials/pp3.pdf^{[ blank URL PDF ]}
^ https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://world wide web.google.com/&httpsredir=one&article=1162&context=transactions
^ https://www.law.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Tips-for-Achieving-Clarity-in-Contract-Drafting.pdf^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
^ Many of the examples are taken from Fowler, H. West. (1908). The King's English (second ed.). Chapter II. Syntax - Shall and Will. Retrieved 2009-07-xv .
^ Crystal, David, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, pages 194 and 224, Cambridge Press Syndicate, New York, NY 1995 ISBN 0-521-40179-eight
^ Merriam Webster'due south Dictionary of English Usage, Merriam-Webster, 1989, ISBN 0-87779-132-5
^ "Reade and Collins". The Virginia University Magazine. 1871. p. 367.
^ Allen, Edward Frank (1938). How to write and speak constructive English: a modern guide to good form . The World Syndicate Publishing Visitor. "I will drown, no one shall save me!").
^ Graham, Ian (2008). Requirements modelling and specification for service oriented architecture. p. /79. ISBN9780470712320.
^ Henry James. The Middle Years.
^ ^a ^b Scalia, Antonin; Garner, Bryan A. (2012). "11. Mandatory/Permissive Canon". Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (Kindle ed.). St. Paul, MN: Thomson West. ISBN978-0-314-27555-4.
^ National Donkey'n v. Defenders of Wildlife , 127 South. Ct. 2518, 2531-2532 (US 2007)..
^ Tillman, Nora Rotter; Tillman, Seth Barrett (2010). "A Fragment on Shall and May". American Periodical of Legal History. 50 (four): 453–458. doi:x.1093/ajlh/fifty.four.453. SSRN 1029001.
^ NASA document Archived Dec 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Writing Clear Requirements", in Technical writing specification, Wikiversity
^ "ISO/IEC Directives, Part ii" (PDF) . Retrieved 2013-03-28 .
^ "RFC 2119". Retrieved 2013-03-28 .
^ "Defence force and Plan-Unique Specifications Format and Content, MIL-STD-961". 2008-04-02. Retrieved 2014-04-29 .
^ "Defence force Standards Format and Content, MIL-STD-962". 2008-04-02. Retrieved 2014-04-29 .
^ "Writing Specifications". Retrieved 2018-05-15 .

External links [edit]

Look upward will in Wiktionary, the gratuitous lexicon.

Look up shall in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

On the Employ of the Verbs shall and will. By Professor De Morgan
On the Apply of Shall and Volition. By Hensleigh Wedgwood, Esq.
"Shall and Will". Fowler, H. W. 1908. The Male monarch'south English - thorough discussion on the subject
Consummate descriptions of the English language Tenses
Webster 1913 - Entry for Shall
"The Origins of some Prescriptive Grammar Rules" - quoting The Origins and Evolution of the English Linguistic communication, Pyles and Algeo, 1993
The Rise of Prescriptivism in English (PDF format)

thomsonadvigul.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shall_and_will