shall

shall

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of shall in English

English Online Dictionary. What means shall‎? What does shall mean?

English

Alternative forms

  • shal (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English schal (infinitive schulen), from Old English sċeal (infinitive sċulan (should, must)), from Proto-West Germanic *skulan, from Proto-Germanic *skal (infinitive *skulaną), from Proto-Indo-European *skel- (to owe, be under obligation).

Cognate with Scots sall, sal (shall), North Frisian skal, schal, West Frisian sil (infinitive sille (shall)), Dutch zal (infinitive zullen (shall)), Low German schall (infinitive schölen (shall)), German soll (infinitive sollen (ought to)), Danish skal (infinitive skulle (shall)), Icelandic skal (infinitive skulu (shall)), Afrikaans sal, Swedish skall (shall) (infinitive skola).

Pronunciation

  • (stressed) IPA(key): /ˈʃæl/
  • (unstressed) IPA(key): /ʃəl/, (pre-consonantal only) /ʃ(ə)/
  • Rhymes: -æl (when stressed)

Verb

shall (third-person singular simple present shall, no present participle, simple past should, no past participle) (modal, auxiliary verb, defective)

  1. Used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense in the first person singular or plural.
  2. Used similarly to indicate determination or obligation in the second and third persons singular or plural.
    (determination): You shall go to the ball!
    (obligation): Citizens shall provide proof of identity.
  3. Used in questions with the first person singular or plural to suggest a possible future action.
  4. (obsolete) To owe.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

  • Shall is about one-fourth as common as will in North America compared to in the United Kingdom. Lack of exposure leads many in North America to consider it formal or even pompous or archaic, best reserved for court decisions and legal contracts. North Americans mainly use it in senses two and three.
  • In law, shall is typically used to impose obligation, though the word can also convey discretionary power or recommendation. Due to its ambiguity, some jurisdictions refrain from using the term in law drafting and official writing.
  • In the past, will and shall were interchangeable and synonymous, used similarly as auxiliary verbs for the future tense but separate persons. The simple future tense traditionally used shall for the first person (”I” and “we”), and will for the second and third persons. This distinction existed largely in formal language and gradually disappeared in Early Modern English.
    I shall go.
    You will go.
    • An emphatic future tense, indicating volition of the speaker—determination, promise, obligation, or permission, depending on the context—, reverses the two words, using will for the first person and shall for the second and third person.
      I will go.
      You shall go.
    • Usage can be reversed in questions and in dependent clauses—especially with indirect discourse. For example: Shall you do it? anticipates the response I shall do it. Or: he says that he shall win or he expects that he shall win anticipate his saying I shall win, not I will win.
  • The second-person singular form (used with thou) is irregular, shalt. Shallest, shalst are rare, often hypercorrect.
  • The past tense form should can be used in reported speech, e.g., I hoped that I should find you here. This use of should may not be readily apparent to speakers who do not often use shall.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Sranan Tongo: sa

Translations

See also

  • must
  • ought
  • should
  • will
  • Appendix:English modal verbs
  • Appendix:English tag questions

References

  • “shall”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
  • “shall”, in The Century Dictionary [], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

  • Halls, halls

Albanian

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish شال (şal).

Noun

shall m (plural shalle, definite shalli, definite plural shallet)

  1. shawl
  2. scarf

Yola

Verb

shall

  1. Alternative form of shell

References

  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 102

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.