‘Shall’ in English: Everything you need to know

Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have a lesson on the word "shall". We've had a

few requests to explain when do you use "shall" rather than "will", or do you use it at all?

It doesn't seem to be used very much nowadays, so this lesson is just to give you a few examples

and to explain a bit about it. And even if you don't use it yourself in speaking, it's

useful at least to understand the meaning of it and how it might be used. You might

see it more in writing than in spoken... Hearing it in spoken English. Okay. So, let's just

explain first of all. "Shall", it's usually only used with the first person, singular

or plural. So, "I shall" and "we shall". Nowadays it doesn't always sound very natural. It can

sound a little bit too formal, a bit strange. So, if I said to a friend, "I shall see you

tomorrow", my friend might, oh, be a bit surprised because it sounds rather formal and a bit

old-fashioned. "I shall see you tomorrow." Because in speaking anyway, you would tend

to say "I'll", "I", apostrophe, double "l". "I'll see you tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow

when you're speaking." And even if you're writing an email to them, you'd probably put

"I'll". And then "I'll", it could be "I will". The double "l", apostrophe, double "l", it

could be "shall" or it could be "will". So, you don't really know when it's contracted

or abbreviated, whether it's "will" or "shall", but it's probably... It's the informal "will"

more likely. "I'll see you tomorrow." You might even just say, "See you tomorrow" in

speaking, so you don't even use a verb. So, that's what I mean about "shall". It's very

difficult to think of natural examples that people would actually say in day-to-day life.

It's not used a lot. So, that's hopefully reassuring that you don't have to worry about

"Oh, should I be using'shall'? I never seem to use this word'shall'. I ought to find

a way of using it because it's not actually used very much, except in just a few examples.

Okay. So... So, "shall" is rather formal and a little bit unnatural these days. We're much

more likely to speak in an informal way with "I'll", which could be either "will" or "shall".

But then if you are using it, you need to know how to form the negative, so "shall not"

and just like "will not", but then the abbreviated form is "shan't". So, "ah", it's a longer

"ah" sound. "Ah" in "shall" becomes "ah" in "shan't". And of course, "will not", it's

even stranger, it becomes "won't", so the "i" changes to an "o". "Will not", "shall

not", "won't", "shan't". Okay. So, it would be "I shan't". "I shan't be seeing you." That

sounds quite natural. If you... A friend is going on holiday, you might say, "Oh, I shan't

be seeing you for a while, then." Or "We", "We shan't be seeing you for a while." That

sounds sort of natural, but you can also say, "Oh, I won't be seeing you, then, for a while."

Or "We won't be seeing you for a couple of weeks." So, it's sort of almost natural in

that example. So, you could say if there's an election and the results in the UK anyway

tend to come through the following day, some people stay up all night waiting for the results

to come, but people decide they're not going to stay up all night, they're going to bed,

they'll wake up the next morning and hear the results. So, you might say, "We shan't

hear the results of the election until tomorrow." So, that's quite a natural way of using it.

We shan't hear the results until tomorrow. We won't hear... We won't hear the results.

That's slightly less formal and normal, natural, the natural way of saying it. We won't hear

the results until tomorrow. But some people might say, "We shan't. We shan't hear." Okay.

I think the most usual way that it's used is when someone makes a suggestion or they

ask a question about... Well, it's a question that's also a suggestion quite often, or it's

asking for a suggestion. Like, "Shall I... Shall I book the tickets? We want to go to

the theatre, so shall I book the tickets for next Wednesday? Shall I?" So, you wouldn't

say, "Will I?" So, this is a very particular way, probably the most usual way nowadays

that you would use "shall" in this sort of question/suggestion. You wouldn't say, "Will

I book the tickets?" That's not quite so natural. And then "shall", "shall we". "Shall we...

We're having a party. Shall we invite the neighbours?" That's the natural way of saying

it. So, you're asking a question, but you're also suggesting, "Shall we invite the neighbours?"

Okay. And then, "What shall we have for dinner?" Not, "What will we have for dinner?" That's

not quite so natural. "What shall we have"-okay?-"for dinner?" So, this is really the main way it

would be used now. And then there's a very formal way that it's used on usually written

notices which is like a command, really. You know, like "Do not" or "You must", that sort

of thing. So, if there's a fire escape in a building which has to be, you know, mustn't

be blocked, there mustn't be anything in the way of the fire escape. If there is a fire,

people need to get out quickly. So, you'd say, "This fire escape shall be kept clear

at all times." Meaning don't put piles of stuff in front of the, you know, the doors

which are a fire escape. "This fire escape shall be kept clear", meaning you must keep

it clear. It's like a command, really, and the "shall" is causing... Creating a sort

of command. "You must", "You must not" sort of idea. An authority, an authoritarian statement.

"This fire escape shall be kept clear at all times."

Okay, so I hope that helps to clarify so that at least if you hear it spoken or you see

it written, you'll understand the meaning and whether it's a strong command or whether

it's a suggestion or whether it's maybe a little bit old-fashioned and formal. It might

be an older person who's saying it, or it may be something that was written 100 years

ago or 200 years ago where the language was a slightly different style. So, all sorts

of things. But the main thing is not to worry about it because it's not used all that much.

And this one with the suggestions is the most usual one nowadays. Okay, so I hope that's

helpful. Thank you for watching, and I hope to see you again soon. Bye for now.