WILL vs. SHALL - What's the Difference? - Basic English Grammar

Do you know the difference between WILL and SHALL? Watch this video and learn how to use these two basic verbs correctly. Also see - MOST COMMON MISTAKES IN ENGLISH & HOW TO AVOID THEM:    • 50 MOST COMMON MISTAKES in English Gr...  

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Transcript:
‘Will’ and ‘shall’ are two of
the most challenging words in
English, even for native
speakers. But in this lesson,
I will show you how to use
these two words correctly,
and avoid making common
mistakes with them. So let’s
begin.
Welcome back. Before we
start, as always, if you have
any questions at all, just
ask me in the comments
section below, and I will
talk to you there. Now, in
this lesson, I will teach you
the two important rules for
using ‘will’ and ‘shall’
correctly, and we will
discuss how to use them in
questions to make requests,
offers, and suggestions.
There is a final quiz at the
end to test your
understanding.
OK, so how do you use ‘will’
and ‘shall’ correctly? Well,
here’s the short answer. In
modern English, ‘shall’ has
become uncommon. That means,
most people just don’t use
‘shall’. In fact, in American
English, ‘shall’ is very
rarely used – it’s mainly
found in some types of
questions, but we shall
discuss them later in this
lesson. So for now, if you
are not sure about the rules,
just use ‘will’. It’s
perfectly OK to use ‘will’ in
all statements – no problem.
But I’m sure you are watching
this video because you want
to know the proper
grammatical rules for ‘will’
and ‘shall’, so let’s talk
about those now.
There are two sets of rules
for using ‘will’ and ‘shall’.
I call these the ‘normal
future’ and the ‘strong
future’. Let’s talk about the
normal future first. This is
when we express a plan, an
expectation, or a prediction.
The grammar rule says that if
the subject of the sentence
is ‘I’ or ‘We’, then ‘shall’
should be used. Here are some
examples: “I shall wait for
you at the train station.”
and “We shall not go to the
museum if we don’t have
time.” You see here that
we’re using ‘shall’ because
the subjects are ‘I’ and
‘We’. In English, ‘I’ and
‘We’ are known as the first
person.
If the subject is the second
person – ‘You’ or the third
person – ‘He’, ‘She’, ‘It’,
‘They’ etc. then ‘will’
should be used. Here are some
examples: “You will find the
flash drive in the locker.”,
“The match will not take
place on October 7th.”
Instead of ‘The match’, you
can also say ‘It will not
take place’. And finally,
“All employees will receive
fire safety training every
two years.” Here, you can say
‘They’ instead of ‘All
employees.’
Now these sentences on the
screen are called the normal
future or plain future
because they’re normal
sentences, and there’s no
emotion attached to them. But
sometimes, we want to express
a strong emotion about the
future – it could be a
promise, a command,
determination or duty. We
call this the strong future.
The grammar rule is that for
the strong future, we reverse
‘will’ and ‘shall’. So now,
we’re going to use ‘will’
with the first person: ‘I’
and ‘We’, and ‘shall’ with
the second and third person.
Take this sentence for
example: “I will get an A on
this exam. I promise!”
Compare this to the previous
sentence: “I shall wait for
you at the train station.”
There’s no emotion there –
it’s just a simple future
arrangement. But when I say
“I will get an A on this
exam” you can tell that I’m
showing strong determination.
So this is the strong future
and we use ‘will’. Here’s
another example: “We will
not tolerate smoking inside
the building!” You see that
this is a warning, and it’s a
strong warning, so we use
‘will’.
These are first-person
subjects. With second- and
third-person subjects we use
‘shall’. For example, “You
shall finish your homework
before you go out to play.”
What type of sentence is
this? It’s a command or
order. You can imagine a
mother saying this to her
child.
The next example is “The
wedding shall not take
place!” Compare this to the
previous sentence: “The match
will not take place on
October 7th.”