conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2005-06-01 04:46 am
Entry tags:

That post reminded me...

What's the difference between will and shall?

[identity profile] xandiwillflailx.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
I think shall is stronger. you say something you "will" do is something that is going to happen in the future, but you're not saying that you're going to try to do it, really, just that it's going to happen. but shall implies some sort of effort. maybe? i never use "shall", it just seems stronger to me.

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_outtonight/ 2005-06-01 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
Will implies that you'll try to do something but not necessarily 100% while shall sounds a lot more definite, like you're really obligated to do it. Or at least that's how I view them.
idonotlikepeas: (Default)

[personal profile] idonotlikepeas 2005-06-01 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
Will is used to express the simple future in the second or third person, or determination, obligation, or fate in the first person. For instance:

You will get a tan if you go to the beach.
I will get a tan tomorrow, no matter what.

Shall is used in exactly the reverse manner.

I believe I shall have lunch.
He shall have lunch, even if I must cram it down his throat with my own hands.

Unless you mean actual usage as opposed to "correct" usage, in which case the only difference is that shall is affected and formal and will isn't, at least in USia. The British are said to still use these correctly, although I believe that is not strictly the case anymore. This is partly due to the contraction "'ll", which can be used to stand for either and has caused a reverse etymology that allows "will" to be used for either.

[identity profile] sparkofcreation.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
Well, they're opposite in American and British English. So lately I'm a bit confused. But to me, "will" indicates certainty and "shall" is about obligation (probably not the right word); it's closely related to "should." It's also used to replace "will" in formal language.

In British English, as I said, it's the opposite and "will" is used where I'd use "shall" or "should." So for example, if [livejournal.com profile] mmaestro says "Will we have pancakes for breakfast?" I'm likely to answer, "Err, I don't know if we *will*, would you like to?"

Unfortunately for me at work, I've picked up far more Britishisms than he's picked up Americanisms, though.

[identity profile] feathered.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
Connie, where's your icon from? The pixel fonts used for it make me cringe every time I see them. I dunno who made it originally and how they'd feel about it, but I'd be more than happy to remake it for you in order to save myself from continued trauma.

[identity profile] feathered.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Image

I don't like it. It's too busy. If you like it, you can still use it, but if not, here are the things I could do to improve it. If you want me to try any of these, just let me know.
-remove the "50 things I am not allowed to do at hogwarts" from the bottom. (Which I did, here (http://www.upon-tiptoe.net/Clara/Requests/connie_16hogwarts2.jpg), before I added it in the first place.)
-find a different font for the blackboard -- the one I used is a little difficult to read on some letters, but despite poking through several hundred fonts, I found very few handwriting fonts that will go that small.
-find the original image, recrop it so that the white space is at the top and not the bottom, put the "50 things..." text there, redo the blackboard text keeping or changing any of the fonts.
-give up on trying to integrate it into a picture and just do text-only likee the other two 50 things icon makers have done.

So, what do you think?

[identity profile] feathered.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
But can you read it? Do you find it overly busy? Do you prefer text-only to the chalkboard idea? I demand an opinion!

[identity profile] eofs.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
It's from getty - third result if you search for blackboard and eraser.

[identity profile] elenbarathi.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 06:31 am (UTC)(link)
Here ya go (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=will+shall+usage&btnG=Google+Search). But since you certainly could have found that yourself if you really didn't know and wanted to find out, I'm curious to know why you're asking?

In any case: all 'authorities' agree that the usage is inconsistent, so this is not one of those cases where Those Who Know The Rules can have a lot of fun and mutual self-validation by dissing Those Who Don't.

There is a difference in shades of meaning. Consider these two sentences:

"I shall die! No one will save me!"

"I will die! No one shall save me!"

... easy to tell which speaker would be grateful to be rescued, and which one wouldn't be.

[identity profile] pehanoie.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Not really answering, but on the same note, I had an American Girls (tm!) theatre type thing, (sort of like Hollywood High, if you can remember that) and the audio changed "Should" to "Shall" in the Felicity section. "I think you shall go home" does not sound quite right.

[identity profile] xandiwillflailx.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
I think shall is stronger. you say something you "will" do is something that is going to happen in the future, but you're not saying that you're going to try to do it, really, just that it's going to happen. but shall implies some sort of effort. maybe? i never use "shall", it just seems stronger to me.

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_outtonight/ 2005-06-01 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
Will implies that you'll try to do something but not necessarily 100% while shall sounds a lot more definite, like you're really obligated to do it. Or at least that's how I view them.
idonotlikepeas: (Default)

[personal profile] idonotlikepeas 2005-06-01 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
Will is used to express the simple future in the second or third person, or determination, obligation, or fate in the first person. For instance:

You will get a tan if you go to the beach.
I will get a tan tomorrow, no matter what.

Shall is used in exactly the reverse manner.

I believe I shall have lunch.
He shall have lunch, even if I must cram it down his throat with my own hands.

Unless you mean actual usage as opposed to "correct" usage, in which case the only difference is that shall is affected and formal and will isn't, at least in USia. The British are said to still use these correctly, although I believe that is not strictly the case anymore. This is partly due to the contraction "'ll", which can be used to stand for either and has caused a reverse etymology that allows "will" to be used for either.

[identity profile] sparkofcreation.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
Well, they're opposite in American and British English. So lately I'm a bit confused. But to me, "will" indicates certainty and "shall" is about obligation (probably not the right word); it's closely related to "should." It's also used to replace "will" in formal language.

In British English, as I said, it's the opposite and "will" is used where I'd use "shall" or "should." So for example, if [livejournal.com profile] mmaestro says "Will we have pancakes for breakfast?" I'm likely to answer, "Err, I don't know if we *will*, would you like to?"

Unfortunately for me at work, I've picked up far more Britishisms than he's picked up Americanisms, though.

[identity profile] feathered.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
Connie, where's your icon from? The pixel fonts used for it make me cringe every time I see them. I dunno who made it originally and how they'd feel about it, but I'd be more than happy to remake it for you in order to save myself from continued trauma.

[identity profile] feathered.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Image

I don't like it. It's too busy. If you like it, you can still use it, but if not, here are the things I could do to improve it. If you want me to try any of these, just let me know.
-remove the "50 things I am not allowed to do at hogwarts" from the bottom. (Which I did, here (http://www.upon-tiptoe.net/Clara/Requests/connie_16hogwarts2.jpg), before I added it in the first place.)
-find a different font for the blackboard -- the one I used is a little difficult to read on some letters, but despite poking through several hundred fonts, I found very few handwriting fonts that will go that small.
-find the original image, recrop it so that the white space is at the top and not the bottom, put the "50 things..." text there, redo the blackboard text keeping or changing any of the fonts.
-give up on trying to integrate it into a picture and just do text-only likee the other two 50 things icon makers have done.

So, what do you think?

[identity profile] feathered.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
But can you read it? Do you find it overly busy? Do you prefer text-only to the chalkboard idea? I demand an opinion!

[identity profile] eofs.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
It's from getty - third result if you search for blackboard and eraser.

[identity profile] elenbarathi.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 06:31 am (UTC)(link)
Here ya go (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=will+shall+usage&btnG=Google+Search). But since you certainly could have found that yourself if you really didn't know and wanted to find out, I'm curious to know why you're asking?

In any case: all 'authorities' agree that the usage is inconsistent, so this is not one of those cases where Those Who Know The Rules can have a lot of fun and mutual self-validation by dissing Those Who Don't.

There is a difference in shades of meaning. Consider these two sentences:

"I shall die! No one will save me!"

"I will die! No one shall save me!"

... easy to tell which speaker would be grateful to be rescued, and which one wouldn't be.

[identity profile] pehanoie.livejournal.com 2005-06-01 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Not really answering, but on the same note, I had an American Girls (tm!) theatre type thing, (sort of like Hollywood High, if you can remember that) and the audio changed "Should" to "Shall" in the Felicity section. "I think you shall go home" does not sound quite right.