- published: 11 Jan 2011
- views: 873245
Shall and will are both modal verbs in English used to express propositions about the future.
These modal verbs have been used in the past for a variety of meanings. Often the words are interchangeable, with "will" being far more common and "shall" the marked usage, typically indicating formality, seriousness and/or pretentiousness. The use of "shall" is viewed as archaic in some dialects of English.
Will is typically used in all persons to express simple futurity:
Shall can also be used for this purpose in the first person (with "I" and "we").
This usage has been presented as compulsory by some prescriptivist grammarians of British English.
Shall has been used in the past in the second and third persons to imply that the will of the subject is not being taken into account, such as to make a promise, command or threat:
These statements would bear fewer connotations of formality, seriousness, and/or pretentiousness if "shall" were replaced with "will", but the general meaning would not change.
We cast no shadow;
The stars do not shine here.
Be content to light your own path.
And burn what you have crossed-
The bridges were frail,
The people, pretended.
Storm forth with the light of the inflamed.
Reclaim and ignite the sky.
Brightly to blind
Rip off the veneers enabling opportunists to thrive.
Dam the rise of grime and rats.
More sickening than a social circle that believes itself charmed.
Are the writhing droves of blow hards and yes men
Clamoring to slither in.
Stay sovereign on the outside.
We are who finish last, the unaffected,
Contrasting the wide and white.
We are who finish last-sound, indignant;
The iron to gleaming teeth,
The salt on saccharin.
We who finish last,
Proudly in their darkness,
Lit from within
Glad hands grabbing for brass rings,
Painting their brinks gold.
Keen sycophants fitly scheming-
Furthering the feuds of their adored.
They have picked their enemies impeccably.
Very keen indeed.
And so siege the scorned...
We are naught but beds of thorns and dark horses,
Unwelcome guests who will just not mind their place-
A single musket ball to pierce and lodge inside
and lead the circle to crack.
We cast no shadow;
The stars do not shine here.
No genuine light to be found.
Only rays of cold, synthetic beams on a mock aristocracy,
So the vain and insecure can feel revered and cared for
For a cheap, fleeting moment.
Truly noble.
Storm forth with the light.
We who finish last;
Proudly in our darkness,
Lit from within.
Conflict in the chest,