The Difference Between Shall and Will in the Future Tense

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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this

lesson I’m going to talk about some

differences between shell and we’ll

let’s get started with shell Shou before

I start shell is going to sound more

formal than will there are some cases

where you can use shell and will to make

the same kind of grammatical structure

and when you use shell in those cases

it’s going to sound more formal than

we’ll we don’t tend to use shell so much

in American English it’s not incorrect

but just remember that you’re going to

sound perhaps too polite sometimes if

you use shell so with that in mind let’s

take a look at the first pattern I want

to talk about first pattern is subject

plus shell so subject plus shell plus

some other information so not a question

when you use this subject first followed

by shell that’s the basic structure for

making a statement a statement so you’re

not asking for any information you’re

just stating something let’s look at

some examples here I shall call the

police I shall call the police so this

is a statement in this case maybe

someone is shouting this I shall call

the police so this is a decision this

person has probably just made and

they’re stating it loudly but politely

in this case I shall call the police

let’s look at the next example

he shall attend the meeting he shall

attend the meeting again a statement it

sounds polite because Shou has been used

and were probably sharing this

information with like the meeting

planner for example or someone related

to the meeting he shall attend the

meeting so it sounds polite a simple

statement let’s look at this one this

actually this is a famous movie quote

you shall not pass if any of you are

fans of

Lord of the Rings maybe you know this

famous line you shall not pass is a

famous line that uses the negative form

here you shall not pass so pass means

like continue across a road in this case

so you shall not pass me you shall not

pass this point in other words so shall

not again this is used in the negative

form you might hear in some cases shant

but shan’t is not used in American

English shan’t is the contracted form of

shell and not shan’t but we don’t use

this in American English and it’s fairly

rare to see in American English media

you may see this more in British English

or British English related media or in

media that features maybe old-fashioned

style English but for this one you shall

not pass this is okay because the

character is kind of like is a fantasy

character and they’re speaking in a more

formal and more formal manner so you

shall not pass is OK here and again this

is a said in a situation where a

character is making a decision in that

moment so in that situation the

character has made like a decision just

then and they’re saying it but they’re

using this kind of polite expression you

shall not pass so keep in mind these are

all kind of like statements we make in

the conversation or in a moment in a

specific moment we didn’t maybe think

about it so much before speaking okay

let’s look then at the opposite here so

this first set of example sentences was

about subject plus shall disorder but

let’s reverse that here to do shall plus

the subject so when you use this kind of

pattern you’ll be making a question so

these are polite sounding questions they

are offers or suggestions that kind of

thing for example a very common

expression is shall we shall we you’ll

notice there’s no verb here there’s no

shall we what shall

we dance is a common one or shall we get

a drink is another one but you might

hear just this shall we

this means like shall we move into the

next room or shall we enter the event

space shall we go somewhere this is used

when the next step when the action is

very clear this from this list of

example sentences this is perhaps the

most common use of shell in American

English today shall we so it’s kind of a

nice polite friendly invitation to do

something it’s like you’re making an

offer to do the next thing

shall we so that’s quite common but the

next a couple of examples perhaps are a

little bit different here’s one shall I

clean up the kitchen shall I clean up

the kitchen this is an offer so in this

case I I’m offering to clean up the

kitchen shall I clean up the kitchen

that’s quite a polite offer because I’ve

used shell to give the offer in other

cases I might say do you want me to

clean up the kitchen or perhaps just

should I clean up the kitchen is a more

natural and kind of common way to

express the same thing if you use shell

it’s not incorrect but it just sounds

quite formal let’s continue to our last

example sentence shall we bring drinks

shall we bring drinks like to a party

for example shall we bring drinks you’re

making an offer again or maybe you can

make like suggestions for a party like

shall we do this or shall we go to this

location so you might hear patterns like

this used in planning events this isn’t

it this one is more of an offer than a

suggests yeah more of an offer than a

suggestion but you might hear this used

to make polite suggestions as well shall

we go to that restaurant shall we invite

this person or that person

so making suggestions kind of but again

quite formal here in most cases we’ll

just use should in modern American

English okay the final point about this

is here so when we’re making these kind

of question patterns

it’s quite strange to use you as the

subject here because we’re making like

an offer or a suggestion

so when you say shall you it sounds

really strange because you’re making an

offer for something the other person you

think maybe should do which is very

strange when we make offers the offers

come from ourselves like we choose to

make an offer so if you’re making an

offer or trying to make a sentence

that’s like suggesting something from

someone else it sounds very strange so

don’t use you here shall you do

something

don’t use that pattern when you’re

making these kinds of questions try to

use like shall we shall I for example so

you’re making an offer or like you’re

making a suggestion from yourself okay

let’s move along now to will so will has

quite a few different uses the ones I’m

going to talk about here are to compare

with shell first we use will for

decisions that we make in the moment as

we talked about over here with shell a

little bit and we use it to think about

uncertain things in the future so this

is a very broad introduction to will but

for this lesson I want to focus here so

first let’s compare we talked about

using shell with this pattern a subject

plus will in this case makes a statement

so again subject comes first then will

or won’t as we’ll see for example I’ll

call the police we saw this same

sentence over here with I shall call the

police this sounds quite formal I’ll

call the police sounds much more natural

I’ll call the police

so this sounds like something we decided

in the moment and it sounds like it’s

not a polite situation either I’ll call

the police this is probably much more

commonly used in American English here

he’ll attend the meeting he’ll attend

the meeting same sentence as we saw over

here he shall attend the meeting sounds

much more casual or much more

natural when we use will so he’ll attend

the meeting again we have this

contracted form he will be comes he’ll I

will be comes IO he’ll attend the

meeting so again passing information

during a conversation he’ll attend the

meeting here you won’t pass the test so

I changed this one a little bit it

sounds a little bit better to use you

won’t pass the test here specifically

what will you pass or not pass I’ve used

the negative you won’t pass the test so

in this case the speaker may be hurt

some information about someone studying

habits or they have a very negative

opinion of the listener for some reason

and they say you won’t pass the test or

maybe they’re talking about how

difficult the test is as well

there are a few situations but you won’t

pass the test so this is a negative

example it’s a simple statement so as

I’ve done with these two positive

sentences I’ve used the contracted

negative won’t will not hear so when

you’re talking specifically when you’re

using when you’re speaking not

necessarily when you’re writing use the

contracted form so you’re going to sound

more natural you’re going to sound more

friendly if you’re using this contracted

form in speech if you’re using I will he

will she will it sounds really stiff and

unnatural

so when you’re speaking use this form

when you’re writing casually you can use

this form as well if you’re writing

something like a thesis paper or

something more formal I would recommend

not contracting so go ahead and use the

I will he will she will when it’s

appropriate so try to use this I know it

takes a little bit of time to practice

and to get used to especially if the L

sound is difficult to say but try to use

this in your speech okay let’s go on

then to the other version the other the

other sentence pattern we talked about

the opposite the reverse here where will

comes first followed by our subject and

then some kind of question phrase so we

use this too

make requests that’s one where we use

you typically I’ll show you in just a

moment we use this pattern when we’re

thinking out loud we’re thinking about

something we’re going to do something in

the future and we use this to talk about

future state enquiries so I’ll show you

some examples of this let’s begin with

the first type a request using you will

you help me with my homework will you

help me with my homework this is a

simple request I’ve used you here will

you help me so we typically use you here

because we use will like when we’re

making decisions in the moment during

the conversation so when you use will

you you’re probably speaking to someone

in that moment perhaps less common is

will he or will she do something it

sounds may be okay in a few situations

but we tend to use a request pattern

like this when the listener is there

with us participating in the

conversation with us if you’re using

will he or will she do something it

could perhaps be okay

but we tend to use this more again when

everybody in in the conversation isn’t

there we can use will you to make the

request let’s continue on though to this

next pattern first let’s read this will

I have time for a break today well I

have time for a break today

this is one example of a situation where

it’s okay to use I in a sentence like

this in a question like this this is an

example of what I mentioned here

thinking aloud thinking out loud so

these are questions that we asked

ourselves about our future

so will I have time for a break today is

something a person might think or might

say to themselves they’re quietly to

themselves they’re thinking about their

schedule for the day well I have time

for a break today well I have time to go

to the bank today

so you’re thinking about something you

need to do or you want to do but you’re

not sure about it we use this however

for things that are not very near future

actions so for example I would not say

mmm will I talk about won’t later in

this lesson that doesn’t make sense

because I know already I’m going to talk

about this point later so it doesn’t

make sense we use this for actions that

are not so close to us in the future

and that we’re not certain about yet so

here will I have time for a break today

maybe this person is really busy or

maybe there are a lot of other things

that are happening that they need to

take care of so will I have time for a

break today is a good example of that

we’re unsure okay one more will he be at

the meeting will he be at the meeting

this is an example of a future state

inquiry so a future state question we’re

asking for information about some future

state a future status in this case will

he be at the meeting will he be at the

meeting so you’re asking for information

about someone’s state in the future this

is an example where it’s okay to use

going to as well is he going to be at

the meeting will he be at the meeting

those questions are fine both of those

are okay to use there’s really not a

difference between the two so you can

use this to talk about these future

states all right then let’s progress to

the last point here I talked about using

will to make questions but it’s also

important to talk about won’t won’t so

again the contracted form will not when

we make questions though we use won’t so

please use won’t when you make questions

here won’t plus your subject and the

rest of your question phrase this is

something we use to make a confirmation

question so a confirmation question is a

question we use to check information we

think something like point a and we want

to check is

point a and the speaker or the listener

rather has a chance to fix our error so

examples first won’t you be late for

your meeting won’t you be late for your

meeting

so maybe the listener is very busy and

they’re taking a long lunch

for example and the speaker says won’t

you be late for your meeting like if you

take a longer lunch so the speaker

thinks the listener is going to be late

and so they ask this confirmation

question not will you but won’t you so

that’s sort of like showing the speaker

has a little bit of doubt about the

situation and they’re asking for

confirmation so the listener could say

for example oh right I need to go so yes

I will I will be late I need to go now

like checking the time or know my

meeting time got changed for an example

so this gives the listener the chance to

like tell the speaker about any updates

let’s look at one more example won’t

this policy change cause problems so

again the speaker here is saying I’m not

sure but I think that this change is

going to cause some problems right

that’s another way of phrasing this this

kind of question so when you hear

questions that begin with won’t you’re

probably hearing a confirmation question

someone is trying to check information

so this is a quick introduction to using

will and shall in some similar

situations as I said try to remember

that she’ll sounds much more formal than

will this one I pointed out earlier

shall we is probably the most common use

of shell in English today at least in

American English in these other cases we

tend to use will more to talk about

these sorts of in the conversation

decisions so I hope that this helped you

if you have any questions or comments or

if you want to practice making a

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that eased thanks very much for watching

this lesson and I will see you again

soon bye

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