Modals: Shall versus Will

Shall versus Will

The rule below about shall/will also applies to should/would, as described at the end.

People may sometimes tell you that there is no difference between shall and will, or even that today nobody uses shall (except in offers such as "Shall I call a taxi?"). This is not really true. The difference between shall and will is often hidden by the fact that we usually contract them in speaking with 'll. But the difference does exist.

The truth is that there are two conjugations for the verb will:

1st Conjugation (objective, simple statement of fact)
	Person	Verb	Example	Contraction
Singular	I	shall	I shall be in London tomorrow.	I'll
	you	will	You will see a large building on the left.	You'll
	he, she, it	will	He will be wearing blue.	He'll
Plural	we	shall	We shall not be there when you arrive.	We shan't
	you	will	You will find his office on the 7th floor.	You'll
	they	will	They will arrive late.	They'll

 

2nd Conjugation (subjective, strong assertion, promise or command)
	Person	Verb	Example	Contraction
Singular	I	will	I will do everything possible to help.	I'll
	you	shall	You shall be sorry for this.	You'll
	he, she, it	shall	It shall be done.	It'll
Plural	we	will	We will not interfere.	We won't
	you	shall	You shall do as you're told.	You'll
	they	shall	They shall give one month's notice.	They'll

It is true that this difference is not universally recognized. However, let those who make assertions such as "People in the USA never use 'shall'" peruse a good US English dictionary, or many US legal documents which often contain phrases such as:

• Each party shall give one month's notice in writing in the event of termination.

Note that exactly the same rule applies in the case of should and would. It is perfectly normal, and somewhat more elegant, to write, for example:

• I should be grateful if you would kindly send me your latest catalogue.

From: EnglishClub.com