Can we use 'shall' instead of 'will' in common situation?

[Tilt]

Can we use "Shall" instead of "Will" in common situation?

For example:

I will do it!
I shall do it!

Somebody has told me that in Britain people use "shall" in the main...Is that true?

I'm not sure about it.
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[Alan]

Hi Tilt,

The 'battle' over 'will' and 'shall' has raged for a long time. All you can say is that 'shall' originally had a strong future sense and 'will' a sense of determination. In your two sentences, The first expresses strong resolution and in the second there is also a strong sense that this is going to happen. It's dangerous to generalise by saying that one or the other is used more frequently. Most often both forms merge into 'I'll' in conversation.

Alan
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[Cerberus™]

I agree with Alan (or course). The neutral forms for the future tense used to be:

I shall
you will
he will

we shall
you will
they will

Any form that deviated from this usage had an extra connotation:
shall = assurance/command
will = determination.

We will go to Oxford = we intend to go to Oxford.
You shall take off your clothes = you are supposed to / you must take off your clothes.
They shall not win the war = I assure you that they 'will' not win the war.

There were many other special uses of shall and will. All this applies to should and would as well.

Today, the group that uses them in the old-fashioned manner seems to be steadily decreasing, although it is not yet extinct.

For an elaborate and very complicated but authoritative essay on traditional usage, see Fowler's "The King's English" (circa 1930):
http://www.bartleby.com/116/213.html
In some of his later works and reprints in the second half of the 20th century he continued to defend the same system. Fowler has had profound influence on the educated Englishman's style in the 20th century, such that I believe his views are still highly regarded by some, at least in traditional circles.

[Sh3hruh]

I don't know the differences between "I will" ampersand "I shall". Anybody is able to explain me more about?

P. S. IELTS (International English Language Testing System)

[Torsten]

Please study this lesson: Shall vs. Will
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[Rfaleet]

will = the actual future wanted or not .
shall = the correct future .

[Torsten]

Hi Rfaleet,

What do you mean by 'actual future' and what is 'the correct future'? If there is a correct future, can there also be an 'incorrect future' or a future that is 'not actual'?
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