Exercise 104—Shall and Will
The auxiliary verbs used to form the future tenses are shall and will. The two must be carefully distinguished because they denote different ideas, according to the person with which they are used. The rule is, to express simple future time, use shall in the first person, will in the second and third persons.
The future tense of the verb walk is conjugated as follows:
| I shall walk | We shall walk |
| You will walk | You will walk |
| He will walk | They will walk |
This is the form to use when you expect the action to take place naturally.
On the other hand, instead of letting things take their natural course as they do in the simple future, you may force them to take place. You may, for example, be determined to walk, or determined to make some one else walk. In that case the use is reversed; as,
| I will walk | We will walk |
| You shall walk | You shall walk |
| He shall walk | They shall walk |
This form is used whenever the speaker has authority to bring about the action indicated by the verb.
In questions of the first person always use shall. In questions of the second and third persons use the same form that you expect in the answer; as,
Shall you be at home to-morrow? I shall.