"Shall" & "Will"

Subject: "Shall" & "Will"
From: Dan Dieterich <ddieteri -at- UWSPMAIL -dot- UWSP -dot- EDU>
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 08:44:32 -0600

In his response to Mike Pope' exhortation against the use of "shall" Rod Bruce
gives five examples of recent American sentences using "shall."

The first, "Ask and you shall receive," is from the King James translation of
the Bible made in 1611.

The second, "Green shall return, like it or not," is a pun based on McArthur's
statement to the people of the Phillipines 50 years ago.

The third, "She shall overcome," reworks the title of a famous American
spiritual written well over a century ago.

The fourth, "The tiny shall inherit the market," is yet another reworking of
a passage from the 1611 King James translation of the Bible.

The fifth, "I shall drown," by Strunk and White (1959) is based on a book by
Strunk and Tenney first published in 1935.

All five examples support Mike Pope's contention that people today don't say
"shall." That's why headline writers use "Shall." It stands out in a headline
because people today don't use it.

- Dan


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