Timeline for What is meant by this "will"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 16, 2020 at 9:11 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
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| Dec 20, 2013 at 14:11 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | moved from User.Id=2492 by developer User.Id=2 | |
| Dec 17, 2013 at 0:12 | comment | added | SF. | @snailboat: outside of "to will something into existence" and the few idiomatic phrases it's very rarely used, replaced almost entirely by "wish", "desire", "want", "like" | |
| Dec 16, 2013 at 15:45 | comment | added | Jay | In the US, at least, we also talk about a job being "an at-will job", meaning that you have no contract, so you can quit at any time and they can fire you at any time. | |
| Dec 16, 2013 at 11:47 | history | edited | SF. | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
"Fire at will"
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| Dec 16, 2013 at 11:26 | comment | added | hunter | Yes, you're right -- the modern use of "will" for future evolved from this old use. However, that evolution has long since happened, so there's nothing at all strange sounding in a sentence like "I will go to the store tomorrow, even though I don't want to." | |
| Dec 16, 2013 at 9:56 | comment | added | SF. | I can't say anything about Old English, but in modern the "intent" part is long dead - if you want to imply intent, you use "is going to" although the two are usually interchangeable. | |
| Dec 16, 2013 at 9:40 | comment | added | Damkerng T. | If I understand correctly, there was no future tense in Old English. Even in modern English, when I hear someone says "I will ...", I still got an impression that he "choose" to do that (by his own will). Am I correct about these? | |
| Dec 16, 2013 at 9:32 | history | answered | SF. | CC BY-SA 3.0 |