Will or shall

Question

when to use will and when to use shall

Markroe · Accepted Answer

"Shall" has generally been replaced with "will," except in formal writing, such as laws, contracts, etc.

BillJ · Answer

Traditionally, to express future time, 'shall' was used for 1st person subjects and 'will' for 2nd and 3rd persons, so we'd get "I/we shall go" and "You/he/she/it/they will go". Nowadays, the shall/will distinction has largely disappeared in spoken English (especially AmE) and you'll find 'will' is used with all persons. Nevertheless, in BrE 'shall' is still used with 1st person subjects as an alternant of 'will' for future time situations, so we get "I shall be glad when it's is all over".

But the most common use of 'shall' is in questions like:

"Shall we dance?" "Shall I pick you up?" "What shall we do tonight?"

This is the normal form in most dialects, so don't be afraid to use 'shall' this way.

BillJ

CalifJim · Answer

saminarehmanwhen to use will and when to use shall

shall, never, except in legal documents and in the formulaic questions mentioned in the previous post. (AmE).

CJ

Will or shall

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