Shall/will
Many, many years ago, in a far off country (Canada), I passed more than one dreary language class being taught the difference between shall and will. (We also used straight pens and ink wells, but that’s another story.)
Mercifully, perhaps, the distinction doesn’t seem as important now as it did then. (Frankly, it was never important to us students; we cheerfully ignored the rules.) My hunch is that most people use will for the simple future and sometimes substitute shall when they want to express determination.
Here are the rules that I was taught.
Simple future |
Subjunctive.
|
|
I shall go You will go He, she, it will go We shall go You will go They will go |
I will go You shall go He, she, it shall go We will go You shall go They shall go |
Notice that the first person is the opposite of the second and third person.
There’s a pair of sentences that we were all taught in those days. Our teachers chuckled over it, but, by the time we figured it out, it was too late and boring for us.
Consider this straightforward and sad statement about the future:
I shall drown, and no one will save me.
Now consider the situation in which an unfortunate person drowning, in a panic, reverses shall and will, saying
I will drown, and no one shall save me.
The people on the shore are confused. The person seems to be expressing a determination to drown.
And so they let him.
The moral of this story: If you care to be hyper-correct or are writing for a hyper-correct audience, keep the differences in mind.