will and shall

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Joe Stanley wrote:

> Steven Hall wrote:
>
> >Bro. Joe do you know that there is a difference in shall and will?
>
> No, I do not.  If I remember correctly, that distinction is not in the
> Greek, but I have been busy this week--mid-terms.  I did look in my
> English Dictionary to check on the meaning of will and shall, your point
> still escapes me.  If there is a difference, I would like to
> understand.  Do you have a reference for your point?  Yes, I am a Geek
> that likes to check references.

> Bro. Joe

Steven answers:
Bro. Joe,
You will notice in the definition of *shall* the word promise is used three
times, and none in the definition of  *will.
shall
shall (shàl) verb, auxiliary
past tense should (sh¢d)
1. Used before a verb in the infinitive to show: a. Something that will take
place or exist in the future: We shall arrive tomorrow. b. Something, such
as an order, a promise, a requirement, or an obligation: You shall leave
now. He shall answer for his misdeeds. The penalty shall not exceed two
years in prison. c. The will to do something or have something take place: I
shall go out if I feel like it. d. Something that is inevitable: That day
shall come.
2. Archaic. a. To be able to. b. To have to; must.
[Middle English shal, from Old English sceal.]
Usage Note: The traditional rules for using shall and will prescribe a
highly complicated pattern of use in which the meanings of the forms change
according to the person of the subject. In the first person, shall is used
to indicate simple futurity: I shall (not will) have to buy another ticket.
In the second and third persons, the same sense of futurity is expressed by
will: The comet will (not shall) return in 87 years. You will (not shall)
probably encounter some heavy seas when you round the point. The use of will
in the first person and of shall in the second and third may express
determination, promise, obligation, or permission, depending on the context.
Thus I will leave tomorrow indicates that the speaker is determined to
leave; You and she shall leave tomorrow is likely to be interpreted as a
command. The sentence You shall have your money expresses a promise ("I will
see that you get your money"), whereas You will have your money makes a
simple prediction.  Such, at least, are the traditional rules. But the
distinction has never taken firm root outside of what H.W. Fowler described
as "the English of the English" (as opposed to that of the Scots and Irish),
and even there it has always been subject to variation. Despite the efforts
of generations of American schoolteachers, the distinction is largely alien
to the modern American idiom. In America will is used to express most of the
senses reserved for shall in English usage, and shall itself is restricted
to first person interrogative proposals, as in Shall we go? and to certain
fixed expressions, such as We shall overcome. Shall is also used in formal
style to express an explicit obligation, as in Applicants shall provide a
proof of residence, though this sense is also expressed by must or should.
In speech the distinction that the English signal by the choice of shall or
will may be rendered by stressing the auxiliary, as in I will leave tomorrow
("I intend to leave"); by choosing another auxiliary, such as must or have
to; or by using an adverb such as certainly.  Many earlier American writers
observed the traditional distinction between shall and will, and some
continue to do so. The practice cannot be called incorrect, though it may
strike American ears as somewhat mannered. But the distinction is difficult
for those who do not come by it natively, and Americans who essay a shall in
an unfamiliar context run considerable risk of getting it wrong, and so of
being caught out in that most embarrassing of linguistic gaffes, the bungled
Anglicism. See Usage Note at should.


will1
will (wîl) noun
1. a. The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a
course of action; volition. b. The act of exercising the will.
2. a. Diligent purposefulness; determination: a candidate with the will to
win. b. Self-control; self-discipline: lacked the will to overcome the
addiction.
3. A desire, purpose, or determination, especially of one in authority: It
is the sovereign's will that the prisoner be spared.
4. Deliberate intention or wish: Let it be known that I took this course of
action against my will.
5. Free discretion; inclination or pleasure: wandered about, guided only by
will.
6. Bearing or attitude toward others; disposition: full of good will.
7. a. A legal declaration of how a person wishes his or her possessions to
be disposed of after death. b. A legally executed document containing this
declaration.

verb
willed, willing, wills verb, transitive
1. To decide on; choose.
2. To yearn for; desire: "She makes you will your own destruction" (George
Bernard Shaw).
3. To decree, dictate, or order.
4. To resolve with a forceful will; determine.
5. To induce or try to induce by sheer force of will: We willed the sun to
come out.
6. To grant in a legal will; bequeath.

verb, intransitive
1. To exercise the will.
2. To make a choice; choose.

- idiom.
at will
Just as or when one wishes.
[Middle English, from Old English willa.]

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition is
licensed from Houghton Mifflin Company. Copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin
Company. All rights reserved.
Selected Illustrations from the Concise Columbia Encyclopedia.  Copyright ©
1991 by Columbia University Press.