Shall I make jam or shall I make cherry pie? Shall I make a nice clafoutis? Find out what I made later on, now I want to talk about why we use the word "shall". Shall or Will?
What is the difference between "shall" and "will"?
Nowadays, Americans tend not to use "shall" to form the future tense. In British English, "shall" is still used to form the future tense, particularly when the subject is "I" or "we." However, most Brits now use "will." This is a relatively new development.
The main use of theauxiliary verbs"will" and "shall" is to form thefuture tense. For example:
I will arrive on Tuesday.
I shall arrive on Tuesday.
However, these days, the use of "shall" to form the future tense is becoming rarer (especially in the US), and it is safe to use "will" every time. In fact, to say it's "safe to use "will" every time" is understating the case. Unless you're asking a question, it is largely expected (particularly in the US).
Take a look at the explanation on Grammar Monster website.
So did what did I make with my cherries? Well I decided to make some cherry jam. I used 2kg of cherries and 600g of jam sugar and I just de-stoned all the cherries with the help of some of my students; cooked the cherries over a medium heat for about 15 minutes. I then added the sugar and cooked for a further 10 minutes till bubbling nicely. I tested the jam on a cold saucer to see if it would set. It's really simple. Thanks to Oscar, Adrian, Pablo and Arthur who helped me and took a pot home to try afterwards.
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