Englishlearningboy  +  643628 Thu, 15 Jan 09 12:39 PM Would you please tell me your ideas about the meaning of this sentence: "You shall always tell the truth now." I'm also not sure about the tense and grammar of it. Here is how I interpret it: It is a kind of threat, which means "Soon, I am going to do something [horrible] to you which will make you tell the truth forever!!!" Englishlearningboy Joined on Sun, Aug 31 2008 New Member 08 Tenses, Sentences

	Mister Micawber  +  643653 Thu, 15 Jan 09 01:06 PM . That much meaning cannot be extracted from the sentence, but you shall (shall in the 2nd person) expresses strong volition by the speaker-- a sort of command, threat or exercise of willpower. . Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,805 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.' Sentences

	Englishlearningboy  +  643712 Thu, 15 Jan 09 02:24 PM Thanks for your answer Mister Micawber. But I have two more questions: 1) You talked about shall in the 2nd person. What if the aforementioned sentence began like this:"I shall always..."? 2) What is your idea about the tense of this sentence? It is in present tense, right? I think we can replace "shall" with "will" (in British English I mean), am I right? Englishlearningboy Tenses, Countries, Sentences, Languages, United Kingdom, Great Britain, British English, Present Tenses

	ranny17  +  648381 Mon, 19 Jan 09 06:53 PM i think i would agree too. from the entire context its seems to me that the sentence has to do with a 'NOW' threat that will change your attitude towards telling the truth. from the term SHALL, it speaks for will when refering to the present only and therefore fits for a replacement of tenses. ranny17 Joined on Mon, Jan 19 2009 New Member 02 Tenses, Context, Sentences