Recommend with or without 'to'

[Yankee]

Hi Hank

I'm 54 and I have not heard or used the word 'shall' in my lifetime (in the US) except for in a handful of relatively fixed phrases such as "Shall we dance?" 'Shall' also still appears sometimes in "legalese".

I've heard that the use of 'shall' is now also on the decline in British English. However, since I was born and raised in the US and not in the UK, and also do not live in the UK now, I cannot state as fact that the use of 'shall' is on the decline in the UK based on personal experience.

[Prezbucky]

Alan, yes, come to the US... not to critique and/or learn more about the American Tongue, but to have a good time.
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Torsten]

Hi Amy and Diverhank,

So what do Americans say instead of "shall"? I take it they've replaced "shall" with "should" and/or "will"?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

The British usage of 'shall' is rather like a foreign language to me. I'm not sure I can tell you accurately what we use instead since I don't really know precisely when and why a Brit might want to use 'shall'. And, to be honest, I've never been particularly interested in finding out either. To me, it is mainly a word that might occasionally be used when someone suggests something or maybe offers something, typically in the form of a question. But there are usually so many other ways to say the same thing that the word 'shall' is not often used.

As a suggestion to leave a place (varying degrees of formality):

Shall we leave? / Should we leave? / Would you like to leave? / Do you want to leave? / Why don't we leave? / Feel like leaving? / Let's go. / Wanna make like a banana and split? / Why don't we blow this pop stand?

We use 'will' to build a future tense. I have never used and would never use 'shall' as Alan did in this thread.

The word 'shall' is also used in some legal documents in the US.

[Prezbucky]

Wanna make like a prom dress and take off?

hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Torsten]

Hi Amy and Tom,

Thanks a lot for shedding some light on the shall/will issue. Amy, your sample sentences with varying degrees of formality are really great -- very helpful indeed. You see, sentences like yours are very hard to come by because they are not published in any ESL textbook. At least I haven't come across a book that shows all the subtle differences between UK and US English in a fresh and practical way. I know you will be laughing at this but if you and Alan teamed up you could create a wonderful and unique UK/US English dictionary.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Diverhank]

This excerpt is taken from a US government writing guide:
Start

The word "must" is the clearest way to convey to your readers that they have to do something.

“Shall” is one of those officious and obsolete words that has encumbered regulations and other documents for many years. The message that “shall” sends to the reader is, “this is boring material.” “Shall” is imprecise. It can indicate either an obligation or a prediction. Dropping “shall” is a major step in making your regulation more reader-friendly Many agencies already use the word "must" to convey obligations with no adverse legal effects.
You can avoid "shall" by substituting "must" to indicate an obligation or "will" to indicate that an action will occur in the future. Be careful to consider which meaning you intend to communicate to your readers.
End

[Alan]

Hi,

Extracts from recent editions of New York Times:
http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?query=I+shall&srchst=nyt

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

Thanks for your idea:

[Diverhank]

Those "shall"'s were in quote from non-American speakers. You won't find a direct usage of "shall", I bet.

Keep in mind, there are still a few people who use "shall" in their writings and that is frowned upon by US companies and the US government.

[Prezbucky]

In Alan's last post, "shall" is fairly clearly (IMO) meant to convey "will".
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Torsten]

Here is another American "shall" example:

"Shall we stay late today, or finish this in the morning?" (quoted from "30 Days to the TOEIC Test", an American TOEIC prep book published a few years back.
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

[Yankee]

[Yankee]