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
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soon bye
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