Timeline for Is shall more formal than will in the spoken language?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 28, 2022 at 10:01 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | ||
| Sep 19, 2022 at 0:13 | answer | added | Tony Stewart EE75 | timeline score: 0 | |
| Sep 18, 2022 at 16:21 | answer | added | James K | timeline score: 1 | |
| Sep 18, 2022 at 16:06 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | In the exact context as cited, shall and will are semantically equivalent. You could say that shall is "more formal" than will, but as flagged up by @mdewey - to the extent that native speakers would recognise any difference at all, they'd probably mainly treat shall as an indication that the text itself and/or the speaker/writer is older. Many younger speakers rarely or never use shall anyway. Also note that regardless of what's said in other contexts, Cinderella's You shall go to the ball! is far more emphatic than the will alternative. | |
| Sep 18, 2022 at 15:35 | comment | added | mdewey | Bear in mind that Sir Roger was born in 1934 and so would have been taught English in the style of that time. Even in the 1960s I was taught that I should say I/we shall except for emphasis when it was I/we will. | |
| Sep 18, 2022 at 15:12 | history | asked | user138449 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |