Will versus shall: two magic modal verbs

【Abstract】The two modal verbs， shall and will， are so interlaced and inter-knitted in usage and meanings that comparison and contrast can be obviously summarized and reflected. In this essay， I will devote to illustrating separately their meanings， the situations when people use shall and will， and their future developmental trends.

【Key words】will; shall; modal verbs; English grammar

【作者簡介】向程琳，南京师范大学。

1. Meanings 

1.1 Meanings of shall

When it comes to the meanings of shall， it generally has four connotations and every one of them conveys different emotions of the speakers in modern English grammar. The first one is that shall means simple future tense used to express what is inevitable or seems likely to happen in the future when its used in the first person.

In this case， shall doesnt have any other deep-layered connotations and it simply refers to something that is going to happen afterwards.

The second one conveys ones planning， intention， expectation or assertion. This one is also for things that are in the future but has ones subjective willingness or volition in it. For example， “I shall go later” or “Keep strong little one， you shall forever be in my heart as all my friends will be.”

The third one is used to express instruction， command， or obligation and it equals to “must” or “be obliged to” “have responsibility to” in this context. It is often seen in the public regulations， announcements， official paperwork etc.

The last one is to be used in questions indicating offers， suggestions， invitation or asking for opinions and permission usually towards someone superior to the speaker.

1.2 Meanings of Will.

Compared with shall， will as a modal verb has more explanations in terms of its meanings in the dictionary. Generally， I would like to separate the meanings of the modal verb will into two parts， of which one has little volition but pure futurity and the other is bombed with feelings.

First， we come to those cases in which will has lost the meaning of volition， and has come to denote nothing but futurity. For grammarians， this is extremely frequent in the second and third persons. But now for most common native English speakers， will can express futurity in first subject too. Some people may argue in this sense， will still has kind of subjective meanings in it rather than to show pure future tense because it may be stressed to denote certainty and inevitability of a future event.

In most cases， however， there is at any rate some remnant of the meaning of volition， impatience， assumptions and many other subjective feelings. Impatience may be shown by stressing will in tones： when will the strike be over？ It can also be curiously used to indicate a mere supposition and used to be common in Scotland （Samuel， 394）.

2. Contexts

2.1 Situations of using shall

For most young people， they rarely use shall in verbal communication or even when writing. People even stress shall intentionally to make fun of the phony and the pretentious ones.

While the frequencies of its use in daily life is decreasing year by year and it is obviously being substituted with its equivalents modal verbs， such as will， must， ought to， should…one exception is that lawyers or government officials often use them in the formal documents， like regulations， laws， treaties or contracts， etc. Shall is found 231 times in the Constitution of the United States and Amendments， and will only three times， and then is used indirectly.

2.2 Situations of using will

In the current English speaking， will obviously dominated shall in either spoken or written ways. Because of its dominating usages and complexity， I will choose three little fun points of how people use will in the actuality.  One interesting fact is that in the writing of 19TH and 20th， even sophisticated writers are not generally consistent in using will and shall， and often employ them alternately merely to vary the expression （Samuel 387）.

Sometimes， we can decide whether to use will or shall in the subordinate sentence based on the main verb in the main sentence. We foresee， expect， hope， fear， believe， think， that a thing will be; demand， order， require， provide， that it shall be. Thus we can safely come to a conclusion that thought， perception， feeling are followed by will; the intentional exercise of power or authority over another by shall.

3. Conclusion

Going through the meanings of the two modal verbs， the usage of them in various cultural and social contexts， and their developmental trends in the English future， we can safely conclude that shall may be less frequently used in both verbal and written English but we can still see many shall in the paperwork about laws and paperwork. Shall and will， even though they have been fighting each other since they appeared， we cannot say which one is superior or inferior; instead， they just cater to the various needs of different people in different historical periods.

References：

[1]Otto Jespersen. “Essentials of English Grammar” University[J].Alabama，1976.