Re: english grammar

[Leslie Bialler lb136@xxxxxxxx]

Patricia says,

>  2. Shall and will, should and would: Americans mostly use `will' and
> `would' all the time, except in legal language or other instances
> where the verb depends on another verb of permission or command:
>
>  Garbage shall not be placed at the curb before 7 p.m.
> The English, however, make a nice distinction. To express simple
> futurity, they say I or we shall or should; thou, you, he, she, it,
> they will or would. To express determination, they reverse them: I
> shall probably go tomorrow if it doesn't rain. He will probably go
> too. I shall do it tomorrow, come hell or high water, and no one shall
> stop me. And then, if you're Winston Churchill, you use simple
> futurity to express the utmost determination: We shall fight...
>
>  Should I forget (I trained myself in the English pattern in my
> teens), remind be when I get back on the list to send you the full
> version of these essays, if you want them.
>
>  Patricia


"I shall drown; nobody will save me"--passenger on a sinking ship.

"I will drown; nobody shall save me"--a would-be suicide

"Egbert Souse," you have pled guilty to DUI. You shall be fined $5000 and your license
shall be revoked."--the judge

"I _will_ bring Souse to justice. He _will_ get the maximum sentence if I have anything to say
about it." -- the prosecutor to the person he ran down in his car.

"I shall go to the electronics store tonight. I _will_ purchase that DVD player I've been
contemplating for weeks.--prospective owner of new DVD machine




--
Leslie Bialler, Columbia University Press
lb136@xxxxxxxx
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