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Unread 09-11-2008, 05:27 AM
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Peter Chipman Peter Chipman is offline
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On the first-person singular "shall" vs. "will"--the pedant's rule is that "I shall X" expresses confident expectation ("I shall be nineteen years old next Tuesday") and "I will X" expresses the speaker's intention ("I will marry you, Throckmorton"). So Elizabeth's usage is correct.

For second and third persons, the rule is reversed. ("You shall not pass!" vs. "When you get to the end of the street you will see a yellow house.")
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