Teacher Discussion Forums

I got stumped by some students with this question and have not been able to find an answer. What is the difference between
"The project is to be completed by tomorrow."
"The project has to be completed by tomorrow."

I could not think of any simple explanation for "is/am to be past participle." Any help would be appreciated.

Also, this same class asked me about the use of "shall." As an American, I rarely use "shall" but I was wondering how common it is in British or Australian English and is it used in any context besides offering or suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

Isn't 'is' often found in sentences detailing schedules, itineraries and so forth? The President is (due, set) to visit A, B and C tomorrow. With regard to this project example, it sounds like a similarly 'bald fact', but it could also be an imperious command of some sort I suppose (there'd be little swaying such a speaker!).

Compared to the above, 'has to' to my mind displays a far greater sense of personal involvement and would not sound so detached and/or threatening.

Bear in mind that the passive doesn't make clear though if this is a veiled directive/command, or somebody bewailing their own tight work schedule (perhaps in the latter case they'd be part of a team, but regardless of whether an individual or a team member, an active alternative would be possible: We/I have to complete the project by tomorrow).

I reckon you can actually quickly glean a lot of grammatical information (and obviously semantic and pragmatic too) from good learner dictionaries. The following is from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online's entry for 'shall':

-shall S3 W1 negative short form shan't
1 shall I/we...? spoken used to make a suggestion, or ask a question that you want the other person to decide about:
Shall I open the window?
Shall we say 6 o'clock, then?
What shall I get for dinner?
2 I/we shall especially British English formal used to say what you will do in the future:
We shall be away next week.
I shall have to be careful.
I've never liked her and I never shall.
We shall have finished by Friday.
3 formal or old-fashioned used to emphasize that something will definitely happen, or that you are determined that something should happen:
The truth shall make you free.
I said you could go, and so you shall.
4 formalSCL used in official documents to state an order, law, promise etc:
All payments shall be made in cash.

-We Shall Overcome

Links to three major, online British EFL dictionaries/MLDs here:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... 2835#22835

You might like to compare the number of senses in each dictionary, and the exact phrasings of the definitions of the various functions. I'm assuming all three dictionaries are quite similar.

(The thing I really like about the Longman especially is that a word's entire entry, right down to the phrases and idioms, is explicitly arranged according to frequency, so that you can be sure that the earlier senses and phrases listed are the more frequent usages. Oxford lumps idioms together at the end of an entry - convenient to find, but less helpful in determining the relative utility of the various items - and Cambridge has persisted in lumping parts of speech together, not that this paragraph really has that much bearing in the case of 'shall' LOL.
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... 5424#15424 )

Then there are widely available grammar reference books such as Swan's Practical English Usage etc:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... 7302#27302

The Project is to be completed is referring to a specific schedule.

The Project has to be completed means there is some external urgency. So you could have this sentence
The project was to be completed next Saturday, but now it has to be finished by Wednesday because the manager needs to check it before he goes on a long golfing weekend.

Good mixed example there, SJ, and probably quite true to life.

Thanks for the help. That was my guess as well but I wasnt sure. I appreciate the replies.