Grammar note: Actually, that’s exactly what Harry should have said, which would not have been denial. According to Fowler, that sentence is not a statement of fact about the future, but a promise (in the “coloured-future” system). As others have said, in this sentence Harry is expressing his intention to defeat death.
However, that’s not a direct quotation, and Harry almost always used “will” instead of “shall”. Of course, Fowler’s advice is obsolete, and we now rarely use “shall” (even in England, and more so in other English-speaking countries). So it’s possible that Harry still meant “shall”, although that’s not what he said.
Right. But still a promise that he intends to keep. (And who knows, the way the story is going, he just might keep it!)
Although he didn’t use that language, that is how I (ETA: initially) read it. So I would fault him for using imprecise language rather than for self-deception. But it’s not clear what he meant; you may well be right.
Downvoted for reading in distinctions that aren’t there. What Fowler may have thought is irrelevant, what matters is what was actually meant and how the words are actually used. “Will” and “shall” are interchangeable in almost all dialects of English, and in the few in which they aren’t, the exact distinction is complicated.
What Fowler may have thought is irrelevant, what matters is what was actually meant and how the words are actually used.
The change since Fowler has been to use ‘will’ in place of ‘shall’, not the other way around. I have read more than Fowler on ‘will’ vs ‘shall’, but I’ve never read anything to suggest that any dialect uses ‘shall’ with the third person in a declarative statement to mean the simple future.
This is all only a minor point, since Harry didn’t say ‘shall’ and it’s clear what wedifrid meant. But I hope that it gets downvoted for unimportance rather than incorrectness. Some time a character may say ‘shall’ for a good reason.
ETA further clarification: My previous comment contains an element of saying that wedifrid used bad grammar. I stand by that, but I also accept the response (from your reply) that grammar usage varies and what wedifrid really meant is what matters. And that’s why I wouldn’t write a comment whose purpose was to say that wedifrid used bad grammar.
But my real purpose was to point out how, with a certain interpretation, ‘will’ and ‘shall’ give different meanings, which are just the meanings that people are debating as to what Harry meant: a factual claim that is (I admit) unjustified, or a declaration of intent that is (I would argue) justified. And the second meaning could be what Harry meant, if he used bad (or at least unnecessarily ambiguous) grammar.
The change since Fowler has been to use ‘will’ in place of ‘shall’, not the other way around. I have read more than Fowler on ‘will’ vs ‘shall’, but I’ve never read anything to suggest that any dialect uses ‘shall’ with the third person in a declarative statement to mean the simple future.
The problem is that this isn’t a “change since Fowler”, since it predates him by centuries. Also really we shouldn’t speak of using either in place of the other, since after all the original meaning of both of them became replaced with the meaning of just being a future marker. (Also this isn’t exactly “grammar”. :P )
I should be clear—I didn’t downvote it simply because it was wrong as such, I downvoted it for spreading confusion about language when there’s already a lot of that. :P
the original meaning of both of them became replaced with the meaning of just being a future marker
This is not correct. For further discussion, I refer you to Fowler. I will write no more on the subject, since I think that it’s getting pretty far off-topic.
Grammar note: Actually, that’s exactly what Harry should have said, which would not have been denial. According to Fowler, that sentence is not a statement of fact about the future, but a promise (in the “coloured-future” system). As others have said, in this sentence Harry is expressing his intention to defeat death.
However, that’s not a direct quotation, and Harry almost always used “will” instead of “shall”. Of course, Fowler’s advice is obsolete, and we now rarely use “shall” (even in England, and more so in other English-speaking countries). So it’s possible that Harry still meant “shall”, although that’s not what he said.
So in that nomenclature Harry isn’t in denial, he is just making promises he can’t keep. ;)
Right. But still a promise that he intends to keep. (And who knows, the way the story is going, he just might keep it!)
Although he didn’t use that language, that is how I (ETA: initially) read it. So I would fault him for using imprecise language rather than for self-deception. But it’s not clear what he meant; you may well be right.
Downvoted for reading in distinctions that aren’t there. What Fowler may have thought is irrelevant, what matters is what was actually meant and how the words are actually used. “Will” and “shall” are interchangeable in almost all dialects of English, and in the few in which they aren’t, the exact distinction is complicated.
The change since Fowler has been to use ‘will’ in place of ‘shall’, not the other way around. I have read more than Fowler on ‘will’ vs ‘shall’, but I’ve never read anything to suggest that any dialect uses ‘shall’ with the third person in a declarative statement to mean the simple future.
This is all only a minor point, since Harry didn’t say ‘shall’ and it’s clear what wedifrid meant. But I hope that it gets downvoted for unimportance rather than incorrectness. Some time a character may say ‘shall’ for a good reason.
ETA further clarification: My previous comment contains an element of saying that wedifrid used bad grammar. I stand by that, but I also accept the response (from your reply) that grammar usage varies and what wedifrid really meant is what matters. And that’s why I wouldn’t write a comment whose purpose was to say that wedifrid used bad grammar.
But my real purpose was to point out how, with a certain interpretation, ‘will’ and ‘shall’ give different meanings, which are just the meanings that people are debating as to what Harry meant: a factual claim that is (I admit) unjustified, or a declaration of intent that is (I would argue) justified. And the second meaning could be what Harry meant, if he used bad (or at least unnecessarily ambiguous) grammar.
The problem is that this isn’t a “change since Fowler”, since it predates him by centuries. Also really we shouldn’t speak of using either in place of the other, since after all the original meaning of both of them became replaced with the meaning of just being a future marker. (Also this isn’t exactly “grammar”. :P )
I should be clear—I didn’t downvote it simply because it was wrong as such, I downvoted it for spreading confusion about language when there’s already a lot of that. :P
This is not correct. For further discussion, I refer you to Fowler. I will write no more on the subject, since I think that it’s getting pretty far off-topic.