shall and will

shall and will

1. The customary rule is that to express a simple future tense shall is used after I and we

• (In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today —Hansard, 1992)

and will in other cases, whereas to express intention or wish the reverse applies

• (We will give people a new right of access to open country, create new national parks and step up protection for special sites —It's time to get Britain working again (Labour Party), 1992)

but it is unlikely that this rule has ever had any consistent basis of authority in actual usage, and many examples of English in print disregard it. In general, the rule applies more strongly to I than to we.

2. Furthermore, the distinction is often difficult to establish, especially in the first person when the speaker is also the performer of the future action and intention is therefore implied at least partially. Will and (occasionally) shall are used as auxiliary verbs to refer to future action or state, but other, more natural, ways of expressing this are commonly preferred, such as am going to:

• I'm going to teach him people are more important than money —Maurice Gee, 1992.

3. When shall and will are used in conversation, they are normally contracted to 'll, especially after pronouns, leaving the difference between the two words irrelevant:

• They'll cook and clean for a week before a party —New York Times, 1976

• I'll remember this sodding day until the day I die —Dirk Bogarde, 1980.

4. Shall has been largely driven out by will in all parts of the English-speaking world other than England. It survives mostly in first-person questions or suggestions

• (Shall I help you to try again? —B. Jagger, 1986

• ‘Shall we take our drinks to the bedroom?’ she said softly —J. Francome, 1990)

in legal language (The landlord shall maintain the premises), and in the contracted negative form shan't

• (‘Have no fear…I shan't throw in the towel, I promise you.’ —M. Russell, 1979)

but shan't is not used in American English. In the English of England (but not of Britain as a whole), shall half survives (albeit tending to sound old-fashioned and affected) in commands and assurances

• (Yes, you shall take some eggs back to your aunt —C. Harvey, 1992)

and in questions seeking information rather than making a request),

• (And where shall you be while I'm hobbling all over the castle? —fiction website, BrE 2005 [OEC])

but will (or sometimes can) is just as common, especially in speech, and is more natural. In Scotland, will is used in the first person even in requests (Will I help you with your bags?).

5. There is not much doubt that will will win, and shall shall lose, in the end.