Advanced English

INTRO: This week, Grammar Lady joins Wordmasters Avi Arditti and Rosanne Skirble, to try to settle an issue of longstanding confusion. Will they succeed? We shall see. MUSIC: "Shall We Dance?"/The King and I AA: These days, most English speakers dance around the traditional distinctions between "shall" and "will. " RS: That's because, unless you arrived here in a time machine from centuries-old southern England, chances are you wouldn't be able to master the arcane rules. AA: But that's not to say people haven't tried. TAPE: CUT ONE - BRUDER "It might have been my grandmother's generation, people made a distinction in the use in the future between `shall' and `will.'" AA: Grammar Lady Mary Bruder says the distinction is when you're talking about what's called the simple future -- "I shall go shopping tomorrow, that's just what I plan to do" -- versus the more emphatic: "I

Imagine that you haven’t seen a good friend in a month. In a telephone call, your friend tells you she would like to get together for dinner but can’t think of a restaurant to go to. So, you offer an idea. Listen to a short  conversation : I’d love to have dinner on Friday but I’m not sure where. How about we go to Chez Philip? Great idea! I haven’t been there in over a year. The phrase  How about  is one common way to make a friendly suggestion in English. To make a suggestion means to offer an idea or plan for someone to think about. You probably already know a few ways to make suggestions in English, using words such as  could  or  should . But, on this Everyday Grammar program, we’ll talk about common phrases you can use for making friendly suggestions. We use many of these phrases in question form. How about…? Let’s start by talking a little more about the phrase  How about. When you ask a question using  How about,  you are asking someone if they agree with