What's the difference between shall and will?

Shall


Definition:

  • (v. i. & auxiliary.) To owe; to be under obligation for.
  • (v. i. & auxiliary.) To be obliged; must.
  • (v. i. & auxiliary.) As an auxiliary, shall indicates a duty or necessity whose obligation is derived from the person speaking; as, you shall go; he shall go; that is, I order or promise your going. It thus ordinarily expresses, in the second and third persons, a command, a threat, or a promise. If the auxillary be emphasized, the command is made more imperative, the promise or that more positive and sure. It is also employed in the language of prophecy; as, "the day shall come when . . . , " since a promise or threat and an authoritative prophecy nearly coincide in significance. In shall with the first person, the necessity of the action is sometimes implied as residing elsewhere than in the speaker; as, I shall suffer; we shall see; and there is always a less distinct and positive assertion of his volition than is indicated by will. "I shall go" implies nearly a simple futurity; more exactly, a foretelling or an expectation of my going, in which, naturally enough, a certain degree of plan or intention may be included; emphasize the shall, and the event is described as certain to occur, and the expression approximates in meaning to our emphatic "I will go." In a question, the relation of speaker and source of obligation is of course transferred to the person addressed; as, "Shall you go?" (answer, "I shall go"); "Shall he go?" i. e., "Do you require or promise his going?" (answer, "He shall go".) The same relation is transferred to either second or third person in such phrases as "You say, or think, you shall go;" "He says, or thinks, he shall go." After a conditional conjunction (as if, whether) shall is used in all persons to express futurity simply; as, if I, you, or he shall say they are right. Should is everywhere used in the same connection and the same senses as shall, as its imperfect. It also expresses duty or moral obligation; as, he should do it whether he will or not. In the early English, and hence in our English Bible, shall is the auxiliary mainly used, in all the persons, to express simple futurity. (Cf. Will, v. t.) Shall may be used elliptically; thus, with an adverb or other word expressive of motion go may be omitted.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Before leaving New York on Wednesday, Charlie Chaplin said: “I shall probably be away for six months, but no more, for I have definite plans for my next film.
  • (2) According to the quantitative analysis between threshold titers of skin test and RAST titers using house dust and HD mites allergens, specific IgE production shall be decreased in the patients over 40 years old.
  • (3) We shall not decide the future of Britain's relationship with the EU.
  • (4) A survey shall be given on the physiological, pathophysiological and pharmacotherapeutic backgrounds of the biogenic amine 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin; 5HT), to be preceded by a few historical remarks.
  • (5) His line on white privilege is ace: “There ain’t a white man in this room that would change places with me,” he says on his DVD Bigger & Blacker , then adds gleefully, “And I’m rich!” He makes lots of films, too, but as is often the way with comedians, those are, shall we say, less gilded affairs.
  • (6) It is hoped that further biochemical studies shall confirm these groupings at a more fundamental level and eventually a system recognising the double-stranded RNA gene product relationships shall evolve.
  • (7) There may be cases in which youngsters have travelled overseas perhaps out of curiosity or with an interest but upon arriving shall we say in Turkey, through which a lot of these people are staged, get cold feet and decide they don’t want to pursue that objective.
  • (8) Within the scope of this paper I shall also attempt a brief description of the focal problems, examined, their operationalization in research methods, expected results, and a preliminary discussion of three demonstrative cases.
  • (9) In order to study the possible role of fibroblastic biological changes in periodontal disease, later on we shall compare the characteristics of normal fibroblast to those of fibroblast taken in periodontal disease.
  • (10) OK, I have a long experience in football but there are players who don’t have the [same] experience, so it shall have an influence.
  • (11) So a striker needs also a bit of luck and then the confidence is higher but he’s self-confident so I expect he shall score and maybe against Chelsea .” So far Van Persie has remained injury free, which is a fillip after previously admitting to managing persistent issues for years.
  • (12) In a 1958 debate on marriage, Robert Menzies himself that declared that the issue “closely touches the individual conscience of members”, adding that “though it will be a government measure, it shall not be treated as a party measure”.
  • (13) The surgical treatment of the chronic pancreatitis shall concerning indication to operation, tactics and kind of intervention always take into consideration an existing abuse of alcohol.
  • (14) Agreement on Japan, 11 February The leaders of the three great powers – the Soviet Union, UK and US – have agreed that after the war in Europe is terminated, the Soviet Union shall enter into war against Japan on the side of the allies on condition that: The status quo in Outer Mongolia shall be preserved.
  • (15) All rights reserved 'From Malta to Yalta': leaders in high spirits 1 January 1945 Prime minister to president and top secret We shall be delighted if you will come to Malta.
  • (16) Qualifying for insurance benefits requires that this activity shall have been finally given up and that the same or other hazardous activities are avoided in the future.
  • (17) So I shall break my cover and, for the first time ever, reveal this top secret dossier: “Welcome to Britain, Visitor!
  • (18) "I do not decide that skirts shall be short or long.
  • (19) We shall continue our measurements, particularly those of activity in persons, and doubtless we shall refine our estimates of collective dose, but they are unlikely to change significantly.
  • (20) More specifically I shall discuss how the distribution of the control of fluxes, concentrations and potentials, among the various enzymes (catalysts) in these systems has been measured and how this distribution can be understood in terms of the enzyme properties.

Will


Definition:

  • (v.) The choice which is made; a determination or preference which results from the act or exercise of the power of choice; a volition.
  • (v.) The power of choosing; the faculty or endowment of the soul by which it is capable of choosing; the faculty or power of the mind by which we decide to do or not to do; the power or faculty of preferring or selecting one of two or more objects.
  • (v.) The choice or determination of one who has authority; a decree; a command; discretionary pleasure.
  • (v.) Strong wish or inclination; desire; purpose.
  • (v.) That which is strongly wished or desired.
  • (v.) Arbitrary disposal; power to control, dispose, or determine.
  • (v.) The legal declaration of a person's mind as to the manner in which he would have his property or estate disposed of after his death; the written instrument, legally executed, by which a man makes disposition of his estate, to take effect after his death; testament; devise. See the Note under Testament, 1.
  • (adv.) To wish; to desire; to incline to have.
  • (adv.) As an auxiliary, will is used to denote futurity dependent on the verb. Thus, in first person, "I will" denotes willingness, consent, promise; and when "will" is emphasized, it denotes determination or fixed purpose; as, I will go if you wish; I will go at all hazards. In the second and third persons, the idea of distinct volition, wish, or purpose is evanescent, and simple certainty is appropriately expressed; as, "You will go," or "He will go," describes a future event as a fact only. To emphasize will denotes (according to the tone or context) certain futurity or fixed determination.
  • (v. i.) To be willing; to be inclined or disposed; to be pleased; to wish; to desire.
  • (n.) To form a distinct volition of; to determine by an act of choice; to ordain; to decree.
  • (n.) To enjoin or command, as that which is determined by an act of volition; to direct; to order.
  • (n.) To give or direct the disposal of by testament; to bequeath; to devise; as, to will one's estate to a child; also, to order or direct by testament; as, he willed that his nephew should have his watch.
  • (v. i.) To exercise an act of volition; to choose; to decide; to determine; to decree.

Example Sentences: