shall – English Grammar Profiler

Here’s an expert example of using a conditional clause + ‘shall’ clause to express modality: Come on, if we don’t share a similar social consciousness, how shall we discuss social problems? Listen to this sentence. C2 point 225 in the category of MODALITY is defined: ‘shall’ in the main clause after an ‘if-‘ clause conditionals Long open queries are impossible on iWeb, so here we first look for the …

IF clause + SHALL clause Read More »

Let’s start with A1 grammar to explain how to form modal verb questions when asking for something. Here is an affirmative declarative sentence: I can get some help. To form a yes/no question with a modal auxiliary verb, invert the subject and the modal verb I can → Can I  follow it with the bare …

questions with modal verbs Read More »

Questions with shall are difficult to differentiate across A2 and B1 in the English Grammar Profile.  They also overlap across categories. Here we give their examples with the details of the grammar entry.  Whether or not advice is being sought after, is at both levels.  The main formal difference is that most of the A2 …

SHALL (question) Read More »

Point 35 in the category of Verbs is defined as: ‘there’ with a range of modal verbs + ‘be’ + complement. A search in iWeb for: there_E _VM be * 1 THERE WILL BE A 135620 2 THERE WILL BE NO 66994 3 THERE MAY BE A 43753 4 THERE WOULD BE NO 37614 5 …

there + MODAL VERB + BE Read More »

C1 English Grammar point 60 in the category of FUTURE/simple is defined as: negative form ‘shall not’ On the uselessness of climbing Mt. Everest: We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, and not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. A search in iWeb for shall not _VVI 1 SHALL NOT APPLY 9981 2 SHALL NOT EXCEED 7825 3 SHALL …

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Here are examples of using ‘shall’ in a formal context and to make a prediction: You shall shortly be sent home in disgrace. listen We shall have no peace until she goes. listen This post is another example of two overlapping grammar points found in two different categories in the English Grammar Profile.  Although they are worded differently, they can be used to describe the exact same examples. C2 …

SHALL (formal & predictions) Read More »

The modal verbs: Will / Shall are often used with the pronouns I and we to show our intentions and to make promises with future simple.  In the mid-position, the adverbs: ‘always’ and ‘never’ can make it quite clear that these statements are intended to be true for a long time.  For example: This is a day we shall …

will | shall + always | never (long-term intention) Read More »

On the internet, the most common present participles after ‘will be‘ are as follows: The common ones after ‘shall be‘: In the English Grammar Profile, there are three overlapping points in the category of FUTURE CONTINUOUS. Point 9 is A2 and defined as: AFFIRMATIVE WITH ‘WILL’ This is elaborated with usage at the same level …

will be + VERBing (future continuous) Read More »

C1 point 206 in Modality, in the English Grammar Profile, is used to say that something is probably true. Looking at 4 spaces to the right of the expression on iWeb corpus we find the following collocates which point to the fact the expression is often used with more modality. Two of those are contractions …

I dare say Read More »

The featured image above shows the multiple proficiency levels that this modal verb is associated with the English Grammar Profile. The very formal nature of this modal verb can be easily seen with a search for collates 5 sides left and right of “shall” in the NOW corpus: 1 BE (VBI ) 211652 2 LAW …

SHALL collocations Read More »