different between undertake vs shall

English

Alternative forms

• undirtake (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English undertaken; equivalent to under- +? take (after undernim).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?nd??te?k/
• Rhymes: -e?k

Verb

undertake (third-person singular simple present undertakes, present participle undertaking, simple past undertook, past participle undertaken)

1. (transitive) To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, lines 417-420,^[1]

     This said, he sat; and expectation held
     His look suspense, awaiting who appeared
     To second, or oppose, or undertake
     The perilous attempt.

2. (intransitive) To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act III, Scene 3,^[2]

     […] if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us
     With some few bands of chosen soldiers,
     I’ll undertake to land them on our coast
     And force the tyrant from his seat by war.

3. (informal) To pass a slower moving vehicle on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.

   Antonym: overtake

4. (archaic, intransitive) To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.
   • c. 1390s, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 289-291,^[3]

     As leene was his hors as is a rake,
     And he nas nat right fat, I undertake,
     But looked holwe and therto sobrely.

   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act V, Scene 3,^[4]

     That is her ransom; I deliver her;
     And those two counties I will undertake
     Your grace shall well and quietly enjoy.

   • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies, London: Richard Wilkin, Part 4, pp. 222-223,^[5]

     […] if those Persons who are curious in collecting either Minerals, or the Shells, Teeth, or other Parts of Animal Bodies that have been buried in the Earth, do but search the Hills after Rains, and the Sea-Shores after Storms, I dare undertake they will not lose their Labour.

5. (obsolete, transitive) To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.
6. (obsolete) To assume, as a character; to take on.
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, Scene 2,^[6]

     Quince. […] you must needs play Pyramus.
     Bottom. Well, I will undertake it.

7. (obsolete) To engage with; to attack, take on in a fight.
   • c. 1609, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act II, Scene 1,^[7]

     It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to.

8. (obsolete) To have knowledge of; to hear.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book 5, Canto 3, Stanza 34, London: George Allen, 1896, p. 1098,^[8]

     Ne he his mouth would open unto wight,
     Untill that Guyon selfe unto him spake,
     And called Brigadore, (so was he hight,)
     Whose voice so soone as he did undertake,
     Eftsoones he stood as still as any stake,

9. (obsolete) To have or take charge of.
   • c. 1390s, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, The Physician’s Tale, lines 81-82, The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Bell & Daldy, 1866, Volume 3, p. 78,^[9]

     […] therfore, for Cristes sake,
     Kepeth wel tho that ye undertake.

   • c. 1612, William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, Henry VIII, Act II, Scene 1,^[10]

     To the water side I must conduct your grace;
     Then give my charge up to Sir Nicholas Vaux,
     Who undertakes you to your end.

Usage notes

• Sense: To commit oneself. This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive.
• See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Derived terms

• undertaker
• undertaking

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• shal (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English schal (infinitive schulen), from Old English s?eal (infinitive s?ulan (“to be obligated or obliged to, shall, must, owe, ought to”)), from Proto-West Germanic *skulan, from Proto-Germanic *skal (infinitive *skulan?), from Proto-Indo-European *skel- (“to owe, be under obligation”).

Cognate with Scots sall, sal (“shall”), West Frisian sil (infinitive sille (“shall”)), Dutch zal (infinitive zullen (“shall”)), Low German schall (infinitive schölen (“shall”)), German soll (infinitive sollen (“ought to”)), Danish skal (infinitive skulle (“shall”)), Icelandic skal (infinitive skulu (“shall”)), Afrikaans sal. Related to shild.

Pronunciation

• (stressed) IPA^(key): /??æl/
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /??l/, (pre-consonantal only) /?(?)/
• Rhymes: -æl (when stressed)

Verb

shall (third-person singular simple present shall, no present participle, simple past (archaic) should, no past participle)

1. (modal, auxiliary verb, defective) Used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense in the first person singular or plural.

   I shall sing in the choir tomorrow.

   I hope that we shall win the game.

   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23

     "Then, having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, I shall give it to the King of the Monkeys, that he and his band may thereafter be free for evermore."

2. Used similarly to indicate determination or obligation in the second and third persons singular or plural.

   (determination): You shall go to the ball!

   (obligation): Citizens shall provide proof of identity.
3. Used in questions with the first person singular or plural to suggest a possible future action.

   Shall I help you with that?

   Shall we go out later?

   Let us examine that, shall we?

4. (obsolete) To owe.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

• Shall is about one-fourth as common as will in North America compared to in the United Kingdom. Lack of exposure leads many in North America to consider it formal or even pompous or archaic, best reserved for court decisions and legal contracts. North Americans mainly use it in senses two and three.
• In the past, will and shall were interchangeable and synonymous, used similarly as auxiliary verbs for the future tense but separate persons. The simple future tense traditionally used shall for the first person (”I” and “we”), and will for the second and third persons. This distinction existed largely in formal language and gradually disappeared in Early Modern English.

  I shall go.

  You will go.

  • An emphatic future tense, indicating volition of the speaker, reverses the two words, using will for the first person and shall for the second and third person.

    I will go.

    You shall go.

  • Usage can be reversed in questions and in dependent clauses—especially with indirect discourse. For example: Shall you do it? anticipates the response I shall do it. Or: he says that he shall win or he expects that he shall win anticipate his saying I shall win, not I will win.

Derived terms

• shalbe
• shalt
• shan't

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: sa

Translations

See also

• ought
• should
• will
• Appendix:English modal verbs
• Appendix:English tag questions

References

• shall at OneLook Dictionary Search
• shall in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Halls, halls