shall will should would

[Anonymous]

I think I am a little confussed. I have always been told in american english shall and will are inertchangeable but today I was told that there where rules that governed which to use.
If I understand what I was told then I use shall in the first person and will in the 2nd and 3rd if the verb is will and will in the first person and shall in the 2nd and 3rd.
but when I try doing it that way it just does not sound right
please help
wayne

[Pete]

I think I am a little confussed. I have always been told in american english shall and will are inertchangeable but today I was told that there where rules that governed which to use.
If I understand what I was told then I use shall in the first person and will in the 2nd and 3rd if the verb is will and will in the first person and shall in the 2nd and 3rd.
but when I try doing it that way it just does not sound right
please help
wayne
In common American English, you do not hear that rule being followed. You do hear that rule stated in school English classes, and a very few people try to follow it. I have heard 2 different things about that "rule" in England: some sources say that no one has ever naturally made that distinction, and the "rule" was made up by writers of grammar books because they thought there should be some difference between "will" and "shall". Other sources say that there is one part of English society (the part that includes the royal family, who define upper-class English standards) who naturally speak that way. I can't say which is correct.

The one place where the 2 words are used with different meanings in American English happens not to follow that rule:
- Shall we go? [This is asking one or more people to agree to do something. Note that it uses SHALL in the first person and it refers to determination, not simple future.]

- Will we go? [This is a simple question about what will or will not happen at some future time. Note that it is in the first person and uses WILL.]

Other than this case, and a few others where tradition calls for shall (Example: a judge pronounces a sentence: "You shall be conducted to the penitentiary where you shall spend the next 10 years."] In most others, either WILL or SHALL would mean the same thing, but WILL is far more common.

See more on this at:
> http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/056.html