PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Linguistic question: "will" vs "shall" and "must"
Old 24th Jul 2013, 06:56
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DaveReidUK
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Reading, UK
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Is "will" a common word in your rules and do we have to follow whatever is after?
Alas, you have stumbled into a minefield.

Essays can be, and have been, written about the subtleties of the usage of "will" and "shall", including one on the implications for the United States Constitution!

As a general rule, "shall" used in the third person normally indicates a command. Substituting "will", on the other hand, makes the meaning potentially ambiguous - it can still have the same meaning as "shall" in a given context, but alternatively it may simply mean, for example, an intention or a habitual action (although neither of those meanings is particularly appropriate in your context, so it would be reasonable to read "will" as "shall" here).
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