Learn English – Shall you vs Will you

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I learned "will you~?" but I have never heard about "shall you~?" I thought that "shall" has similar meanings as "will". Is it unnatural to use "shall you~?" instead of "will you~?"

Best Answer

This is from Practical English Language, by Michael Swan. It focuses on British usage, although it's quite complete on its mentions to AmE too.

Questions with shall I/we are used (in both British and American English) to ask for instructions or decisions, to offer services, and to make suggestions. In American English, this is rather formal. Will is not used in this way.

Shall I open a window? (not Will I open a window?)
Shall I carry your bag?
What time shall we come and see you? What on earth shall we do?
Shall we go out for a meal? Let's go and see Lucy, shall we?

The book is clear in general terms that shall has pretty much disappeared from normal people's lives. This is the only case in which it mentions a particular use of it that doesn't mean "will" in the whole book. I am no native speaker, but I bet that all comments talking about differences in meaning are talking from their own perspectives of the language. That doesn't necessarily reflect what the word really means. There may be some regional or personal uses that differ. The only difference in meaning I know of is a classist one. So, the subjective description of the nuances in meaning between both words that a working-class native English speaker will give shall be different than the one of an Oxbridge student. Only certain people use the word instead of will nowadays, and that gives it connotations. Now, when do those "certain people" use shall and when do they use will would be an interesting case for study.

I've found another use:

After let’s . . . (in suggestions, etc.), we use "shall we?" Let’s have a party, shall we?

Also, in same-way question tags:

I ’ll hold that for you, shall I?

New Zealand English tends to use Will I . . .? in questions like "Will I call back later?", where British English has Shall I . . .?