Literary notes about will (AI summary)
In literature, the word "will" serves as a versatile modal verb that carries nuances of future intent, prediction, promise, and even command. Authors employ it to indicate forthcoming actions or events—as in narratives forecasting outcomes or setting temporally defined processes [1], [2], [3]—while it also conveys personal commitment or willingness in dialogues and internal monologues [4], [5], [6]. At times, it introduces assertions of inevitable consequence or determined resolve, echoing both narrative urgency and character volition [7], [8], [9]. Additionally, its use in interrogative statements or rhetorical appeals can serve to generate tension or invite participation from both characters and readers [10], [11]. This multiplicity of purpose renders "will" a significant and dynamic tool in the literary craft.
- A comparison of Sir William Jones’s Solar genealogies with my tables will yield nearly the same satisfactory result as to original authenticity.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 by James Tod - By this means I shall in course of time make four thousand drachmas, which will easily double themselves.
— from The Arabian Nights Entertainments by Andrew Lang - But it is a long way to the Emerald City, and it will take you many days.
— from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - Go ahead, my friends, I will wait for you!”
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - "You will come and let me know everything you want; you will come back to me."
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - “I will do just as you like,” said she; “and if the money he offers be acceptable to you, I advise you to close with him.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - I will now relate the incident which put an end to my relations with this venomous creature.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - “I will put my hand in the fire for Mr. Balfour,” says Alan.
— from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson - We will now proceed to a form which is not so general.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - When it fell dark again, Mr. Lorry asked him as before: “Dear Doctor, will you go out?”
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - Will you be pleased to hang me? or cut my throat?
— from Volpone; Or, The Fox by Ben Jonson