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Shall - is there a need for it?

  • 24-06-2009 11:34pm
    #1
    asdasd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,185 ✭✭✭


    Shall Vs Will

    Personally, I like it. Very British English. Almost never used by Irish people or Americans.

    Is it needed? I supposed the fact that Americans feel they dont need it means that it is not essential.

    I feel the need to define the difference between somthing definitely bound to happen ( the sun will rise - you cant say the sun shall rise) and something aspirational, generally a human aspiration ( I shall rise early).

    We would say I will rise early, in the hope that people understood it be aspitartional, not a statement of fact.

    Thoughts. Shall we abandon shall?


Comments

  • #2
    Broad
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 124 ✭✭Broad


    I like "shall" though I don't use it much myself - my two youngest children (12 and 13) do though. I ask them why they use it and they say it doesn't mean the same as "will": that if they "shall" do something it means they kind of want to do it; and if they "will" do something it means they have to do it, or that they do it automatically. So that ties in with what the OP says about the "shall" being aspirational.

    The only time I use it is when I ask "shall we?" Which in my head means "d'you want (us) to?"


  • #3
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,506 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    As a Brit, when I first came here, the use of "will" in place of "shall" confused me a bit, such as when people ask "Will I come round on Friday, then?", I'd feel like replying, "I don't know, will you?"


  • #4
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    If we didn't have the word "shall", we wouldn't be able to write protocols.




    little geek joke, there


  • #5
    Iggy Pop
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭Iggy Pop


    tbh wrote: »
    If we didn't have the word "shall", we wouldn't be able to write protocols.
    Or specifications. Have a friend from 'the mainland' who says shall in the correct context. Sounds all Lord Fauntleroy and gets a proper slagging.


  • #6
    K4t
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,362 ✭✭✭K4t


    I would get a lot of queer looks if I used 'shall' out and around tbh.

    'Will' is just fine.


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