Will can not be used interrogatively in the first person singular or plural. We can not say, "Will I go?" "Will I help you?" "Will I be late?" "Will we get there in time?" "Will we see you again soon?"
Official courtesy, in order to avoid the semblance of compulsion, conveys its commands in the you-will form instead of the strictly grammatical you-shall form. It says, for example, "You will proceed to Key West, where you will find further instructions awaiting you."
A clever writer on the use of shall and will says that whatever concerns one's beliefs, hopes, fears, likes, or dislikes, can not be expressed in conjunction with I will. Are there no exceptions to this rule? If I say, "I think I shall go to Philadelphia to-morrow," I convey the impression that my going depends upon circumstances beyond my control; but if I say, "I think I will go to Philadelphia to-morrow," I convey the impression that my going depends upon circumstances within my control—that my going or not depends on mere inclination. We certainly must say, "I fear that I shall lose it"; "I hope that I shall be well"; "I believe that I shall have the ague"; "I hope that I shall not be left alone"; "I fear that we shall have bad weather"; "I shall dislike the country"; "I shall like the performance." The writer referred to asks, "How can one say, 'I will have the headache'?" I answer, Very easily, as every young woman knows. Let us see: "Mary, you know you promised John to drive out with him to-morrow; how shall you get out of it?" "Oh, I will have the headache!" We request that people will do thus or so, and not that they shall. Thus, "It is requested that no one will leave the room."
Shall is rarely, if ever, used for will; it is will that is used for shall. Expressions like the following are common: "Where will you be next week?" "I will be at home." "We will have dinner at six o'clock." "How will you go about it?" "When will you begin?" "When will you set out?" "What will you do with it?" In all such expressions, when it is a question of mere future action on the part of the person speaking or spoken to, the auxiliary must be shall, and not will.
Should and would follow the regimen of shall and will. Would is often used for should; should rarely for would. Correct speakers say, "I should go to town to-morrow if I had a horse." "I should not; I should wait for better weather." "We should be glad to see you." "We should have started earlier, if the weather had been clear." "I should like to go to town, and would go if I could." "I would assist you if I could." "I should have been ill if I had gone." "I would I were home again!" "I should go fishing to-day if I were home." "I should so like to go to Europe!" "I should prefer to see it first." "I should be delighted." "I should be glad to have you sup with me." "I knew that I should be ill." "I feared that I should lose it." "I hoped that I should see him." "I thought I should have the ague." "I hoped that I should not be left alone." "I was afraid that we should have bad weather." "I knew I should dislike the country." "I should not like to do it, and will not [determination] unless compelled to."
Shimmy. "We derive from the French language our word chemise—pronounced shemmeeze. In French, the word denotes a man's shirt, as well as the under garment worn by women. In this country, it is often pronounced by people who should know better—shimmy. Rather than call it shimmy, resume the use of the old English words shift and smock. Good usage unqualifiedly condemns gents, pants, kids, gums, and shimmy."—"Vulgarisms and Other Errors of Speech."
Should. See [Ought].
Sick—Ill. These words are often used indiscriminately. Sick, however, is the stronger word, and generally the better word to use. Ill is used in England more than with us: there sick is generally limited to the expressing of nausea; as, "sick at the stomach."
Signature, over or under? A man writes under, not over, a signature. Charles Dickens wrote under the signature of "Boz"; Mr. Samuel L. Clemens writes under the signature of "Mark Twain." The reason given in Webster's Dictionary for preferring the use of under is absurd; viz., that the paper is under the hand in writing. The expression is elliptical, and has no reference to the position either of the signature or of the paper. "Given under my hand and seal" means "under the guarantee of my signature and my seal." "Under his own signature" or "name" means "under his own character, without disguise." "Under the signature of Boz" means "under the disguise of the assumed name Boz." We always write under a certain date, though the date be placed, as it often is, at the bottom of the page.
Signs. In one of the principal business streets of New York there is a sign which reads, "German Lace Store." Now, whether this is a store that makes a specialty of German laces, or whether it is a store where all kinds of lace are sold, kept by a German or after the German fashion, is something that the sign doubtless means to tell us, but, owing to the absence of a hyphen ("German-Lace Store," or "German Lace-Store"), does not tell us. Nothing is more common than erroneous punctuation in signs, and gross mistakes by the unlettered in the wording of the simplest printed matter.