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Current Talk '09 II / Re: Discuss - Ep #0813
« on: August 28, 2009, 04:17:21 AM »It was weird when Tim said, "They shall not find it." I would have said, "They will not find it." Strange way of speaking.
We have to realize that what may sound weird nowadays wouldn't have sounded at all weird in 1897. What Tim said was quite correct - and particularly in the situation he said it. Careful people once consistently used shall in the first person in forming the future and future perfect and will in the second and third person. However, those who did so would then normally reverse that procedure in emphatic statements. Tim was a teacher, and he was speaking emphatically, hence "They shall not find it."
In other words:
I shall not find it. (simple future) I will not find it. (emphatic)
You will not find it. (simple future) You shall not find it. (emphatic)
They will not find it. (simple future) They shall not find it. (emphatic)