Shall, at its discretion: Difference between revisions

From The Jolly Contrarian
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 7: Line 7:
Carry on.
Carry on.


{{seealso}}
{{sa}}
*[[May, at its discretion]]
*[[May, at its discretion]]


{{plainenglish}}
{{plainenglish}}

Revision as of 11:36, 18 January 2020

Wonderful rear-gunner flannelry. Shall, or will, implies an obligation. Discretion implies a right — not just the lack of an obligation, but its very antithesis.

So the driver who steers using this elegant phrase reverses over her own flowerbed and runs herself over.

The word your chauffeuse is looking for is “may”.

Carry on.

See also

Plain English Anatomy™ Noun | Verb | Adjective | Adverb | Preposition | Conjunction | Latin | Germany | Flannel | Legal triplicate | Nominalisation | Murder your darlings