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Old March 14th 16, 04:28 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Bibi ergo sum Bibi ergo sum is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Mar 2016
Posts: 2
Default Underground grammar fail

On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 13:58:27 +0000 (UTC), d wrote:

On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 12:40:06 +0000
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
05:22:47 on Mon, 14 Mar 2016,
remarked:

Used Mornington Crescent station for the first time in years today, and
was disappointed to find that the mechanical voice doesn't know the
difference between 'will' and 'shall'

Could you perhaps explain the difference?


"Will" is a mere prediction, "Shall" implies that the speaker is somehow
complicit in making it happen.


A good definition. Though I think its safe to say the distinction is pretty
blurred these days and they tend to be used interchangably a lot of the time.


My school Latin teacher claimed that shall was only appropriate in the
first person; at other times will should be used. It's still unclear
to me what benefit was gained by the distinction.