Re: Using the word shall

[Kathryn Seifert <kathryn_seifert -at- IL -dot- US -dot- SWISSBANK -dot- COM>]

I went to university in England  and worked as a technical writer there for a
 while.


While there I was taught that "shall" is the first  person future indicative
 form of  the auxiliary verb
"will".  Thus - "I shall be going home around 5:00 today" (this is a statement
 of fact). "Will" is the
first person imperative form - i.e. "I will never talk to her ever again!" (this
 is a statement of my firm
intent).

"Shall" is also the second and third person imperative form of "will" - thus,
 "You shall not touch
that!" (this is a command).  "Will" is the second and third person indicative  -
 i.e. "he will not eat
fruit" (this is a statement of fact).

A philosophy tutor of mine at university used the following phrase to teach me
 the difference
between "shall" and "will": "A scotsman fell into the Thames and shouted to the
 onlookers 'I will
drown and nobody shall save me'. So he did and they didn't". In other words,
 rather than
expressing his distress, he was perceived as expressing his intention to drown
 and his strong
desire that no one save him.

I live in the United States now, and no one seems to be aware of these nuances.
 I think that the
differences are useful, but only if the people to whom you are speaking have
 been taught in the
same way.  In any event I do not think that "shall" is merely "formal" speech.
 If  your sales
material will be seen by people in the UK, you might consider what many consider
 to be the
"correct" use of  the words (at least in southern England).