Shall: Difference between revisions

Shall (view source)

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-A verb that seems so safe - so forensic - fusty, old-fashioned, goodie-two-shoes - but yet tantalisingly vague.
+A verb that seems so safe — so forensic — fusty, old-fashioned, stolid, goodie-two-shoes — but yet so tantalisingly {{isdaprov|vague}}.
-It's vague in that “shall” can be an airily floated aspiration of future — “I say,” said Jenkins, absent-mindedly knocking out his pipe on a passing child’s head, “I do believe I shall go to the theatre tonight!” — but just as easily can be a stentorian direction to an underling or contractual counterparty to carry out a binding duty: “You ''shall'' do the dishes, young lady, and you shall do them ''NOW''”.
+Vague in that “shall” can be an airily floated aspiration of future — “I say,” said Jenkins, absent-mindedly knocking out his pipe on a passing child’s head, “I do believe I shall go to the theatre tonight!” — but just as easily can be a stentorian direction to an underling to carry out a binding duty: “You ''shall'' do the dishes, young lady, and you shall do them ''NOW''”.
 [[Mediocre lawyer|Lawyers]] like the latter formulation, a lot, and spray it around as if they're standing behind a Gatling gun loaded with [[shall]]s<ref>Thank-you, ladies and gentlemen. There’s a hat going round.</ref>. But here's the problem. Conjugation.