CONTENTS FEATURE: Shall you? Will you? Should you? Or would you? GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn up to $500 FEATURE: Shall you? Will you? Should you? Or would you?      Suppose you wish to send a memo or e-mail message advising a colleague that you expect to complete work on a project by the end of the week. Which is the best choice of wording: "I shall complete the proposal by Friday" or "I will complete the proposal by Friday" or "I should complete the proposal by Friday"?      Are those statements synonymous? Well, yes and no. Although they're all interchangeable in some contexts, they individually retain specific meanings that should be carefully observed.      The distinctions between the modal auxiliary verbs "shall," "will," "should" and "would" were once far more rigid—and confounding—than they are today. Modal auxiliary verbs modify a main verb in a way to express necessity, intention, possibility or probability.      The traditional rule held that indication of an action in the future required the auxiliary verb "shall" for first-person constructions (such as "I shall answer the letter"), with the verb "will" reserved for second- and third-person uses ("you will mail it tomorrow" and "they will receive it by the end of the week"). The rule was reversed, however, when expressing obligation, determination, compulsion, inevitability or a command. Examples are "I will pay the debt" (meaning "I am determined to gather enough money to pay the debt"); or "you shall pay the debt" (meaning "you are obligated to pay it"); or "the debt shall be repaid" (meaning "unrelenting pressure will be exerted until someone eradicates the debt").      Those strict rules have been relaxed, however, in modern American use. The auxiliary verb "will" is now widely accepted as a means of indicating simple futurity, regardless of the person of the subject, as in "I will mow the lawn, Beth will rake the leaves and Ricky will trim the bushes."      The verb "will" can be used to predict likelihood or certainty (as in "one day, you will wish that you had listened to me"); to indicate intention ("I know I'm clumsy, but I will learn how to dance"); and to express a requirement or command ("you will report to me afterward").      In speech, voice modulation offers cues to distinguish simple future actions from obligations. Emphasis on "will" in the statement "I will answer the letter" is understood to indicate promise or acceptance of responsibility. Obligation also can be expressed in writing by substituting "have to" or "must" or another auxiliary verb that is more demonstrative than "will."      "Should" and "would"—the past-tense forms of "shall" and "will"—have undergone similar changes. They can be used interchangeably in first-person constructions that view the future from some point in the past (such as "If I had known you like enchiladas, I would have met you at a Mexican restaurant" or "I told Mary that I should like to leave by 9 a.m." But only "would" is used in the second and third persons—for example, "If Phil had attended the training session, he would have been better prepared for the presentation."      In addition, "should" is used to express probability or expectation (as in "Alan says he should be able to finish the report by the end of the week"). In a different context, it also can convey responsibility, obligation or even impart a threatening tone (as in "Alan should finish the report by the end of the week if he values his job"). When functioning as the equivalent of "ought to" or "must," the auxiliary verb "should" can be used in all three persons—"I should pay for dinner"; "you should call Wilma"; "Roger should apologize."      The auxiliary verb "would" can be used to express intent, volition or promise (as in "Tanya said she would come to our office" or "Luis promised that he would reconcile the purchase orders and invoices"). It also can form a conditional statement that expresses possibility or likelihood (as in "if Selma had left home before 7 a.m., she probably would have arrived at the airport in time for her flight"). It also can be used to describe recurrent or habitual activities that occurred in the past (as in "when we lived on the same block, we would walk to school together every day").      The auxiliary verb "shall" is nowadays used most commonly in legal or contractual directives (such as "the engineering consultant shall have a procedure for monitoring compliance" or "the chief financial officer shall perform functions as specified in chapter 9 of title 31 of the bylaws") and in certain fixed phrases and aphorisms (including "seek and ye shall find," "when I am an old woman I shall wear purple" and "we shall overcome," all of which express certainty or determination). It additionally is used to phrase invitations or polite requests (such as "shall we dance?") and questions seeking agreement (such as "shall we leave now?").      But "will" lacks the potency and sense of passion that the auxiliary verb "shall" retains. Consider Gen. Douglas MacArthur's dramatic wartime pronouncement "I shall return"; British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's steely resolve that "we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"; President Richard Nixon's somber announcement "Therefore, I shall resign the presidency, effective at noon tomorrow"; and President Abraham Lincoln's stirring statement of determination that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth."      For conversational and non-legal business writing, you can apply these concise guidelines: In reference to anticipated future action, use "will," as in "I will ask Josephine to help compile data" or "the weeds will grow back in a few weeks." If you're inviting someone else's opinion or preference, use "shall," as in "shall we call the meeting to order?" or "shall I check with you tomorrow afternoon?" When expressing your own determination or acknowledging an obligation, use "shall," as in "I shall complete the audit by the 15th of the month."      Now you can discern the subtle distinctions between our three initial examples. If you wish to clarify that among the people in your office, you have stepped forward and accepted an assignment, you could say "I will complete the proposal by Friday." To indicate that you probably will complete the work by Friday but still allow yourself a little wiggle room for contingencies, you could say, "I should complete the proposal by Friday." But be aware that statement could be misinterpreted as your acknowledgment that completion of the work by Friday is essential. To reassure your supervisor that you are resolute to complete the job by the deadline, you could say, "I shall complete the proposal by Friday."      That's all for now. We shall present another topic next month. GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions 1. Karen S. wrote:      "When writing the name of a foundation, how should it be written in the text? Underlined, bold, all caps? Name of foundation is Transition Kids." The grammar coach replies:      Karen, capitalization alone is ordinarily adequate and entirely appropriate to identify proper names, including names of organizations. Treat the name "Transition Kids" the same way that you would treat your own name in text—capitalize proper names without any additional character formatting. For clarification, include a qualifying phrase, such as "the foundation named Transition Kids was established...."      The Chicago Manual of Style does make exceptions for titles of works, including titles of books and motion pictures, which it says should be set in italics. While boldface is acceptable for "display" type such as headlines or for items in a bulleted list, it can be needlessly distracting within body text. Underlining is a throwback to the days when people used typewriters, which lacked the character formatting capabilities of desktop computers and word-processing software. We discourage underlining because it can interfere with legibility of certain characters. 2. R.P. wrote:      "Please take a look at the following sentence: 'Psomas has joined forces with one of the most well respected firms in Riverside County, California—Canty Engineering Group.' I am struggling with whether 'most well respected' or simply 'most respected' is proper and why. Also I need input as to the appropriate use of a dash or a comma between 'California' and 'Canty' at the end of the sentence." The grammar coach replies:      Because "respected," like the adjective "respectable," means "considered worthy of esteem or high regard," addition of the adjective "well" is superfluous. Describing the firm as "one of the most respected" defines its eminence. "Well" overstates the point, and is simply unnecessary.      In your example sentence, "Canty Engineering Group" is an appositive; it identifies the company that is described in the preceding portion of the sentence. Punctuation is needed to separate it from that introductory clause. While you could use a comma, a colon or em-dash would make the distinction clearer.      The resultant sentence would read "Psomas has joined forces with one of the most respected firms in Riverside County: Canty Engineering Group."      The sentence also could be written "Psomas has joined forces with Canty Engineering Group, one of the most respected firms in Riverside County." The comma is appropriate punctuation in that construction.      Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help—at no charge, just for the sport of it. 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